Millcreek schools Superintendent looks to create school police force
Erie PA November 7 2018
Millcreek schools Superintendent William Hall asked school directors for a major investment in school security Monday.
Hall asked the board for an estimated $543,794 for a school district police force during a committee of the whole meeting at the Millcreek Education Center.
About $200,000 of that cost would be for startup expenses, including uniforms, equipment and police cars. The remainder would be an estimated annual cost for salaries, benefits and required recertification training for a chief, lieutenant and four officers, and for vehicle fuel and maintenance.
Police would be employed year-round and would serve as school resource officers during the school year. Police would work with staff and offer car-seat checks, student police camps and other community services when classes are not in session, Assistant Schools Superintendent Darcie Moseley said.
The district currently employs a Millcreek Township police officer as school resource officer at the high school. Cost for the 180-day school year is $101,000, said Aaron O’Toole, the district’s director of finance and accounting.
A district police force would save that cost and as well as costs to hire local police for security or traffic control for homecoming and other events, administrators said.
The district also employs a school security officer at McDowell Intermediate High School.
“I like the flexibility of having our own police force. And there is a need for more security resources throughout the district,” Hall said.
Recurring state grant money for school security could help pay a portion of the costs, O’Toole said.
The district has already applied for state funding for additional police, Hall said.
The additional officers would build on work that the school resource and safety officers have done in establishing relationships with students to prevent unwanted behaviors and to help educate students about peer relationships, conflict resolution, social media safety and other topics, Moseley said.
The six police officers would work at all 10 district schools and work with the district safety officer, a new position required in public school districts by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Only trained officers would be hired, Hall said.
“They would need to meet a national standard of training to work in our schools,” he said.
District administrators have been looking at the pros and cons of a district police force for some time, Hall said.
“We’ve been looking at this since spring,” he said. “We started really honing in, fine-tuning the plans and looking at budget and cost and all of that this school year. We’re ready now to bring this forward to the School Board.”
Moseley has talked with officials in other districts, including the Erie School District, which employs its own police force, about department and district needs.
If the School Board decides to establish its own police force, it then would petition the Court of Common Pleas for required approval and a work out a memorandum of understanding with Millcreek police concerning roles and responsibilities of school and local police.
School directors asked administrators for more information on other school districts in the state that have their own police forces, including district enrollment and police operations and costs.
“That would be beneficial as we make that determination whether to approve this or not,” School Director Lou Aliota said.
The proposal is worth considering, School Board President John DiPlacido said.
“It’s important that we look at, No. 1, if this initiative is worth pursuing, and if the board decides that it is, then figure out the best way to do it and to pay for it,” DiPlacido said.
The administration will present the proposal to the board again, likely at the end of November, Hall said.
“Once we get some feedback from the community and from the board, we will make another presentation or have a special meeting to talk about it,” he said.
goerie.com
