Lee County MS to hire security personnel for every school in the district
TUPELO MS June 2 2019 – Lee County Schools took a magnifying glass to the district safety plan this week and will make several improvements to school security in the fall, with the hiring of eight individuals to the district security team and a new safety coordinator.
School board president Sherry Mask said each school will now have its own officer when, in the past, one officer was often shared between up to three different campuses. The school district will also hire a safety coordinator to oversee security efforts on Lee County campuses in the fall.
The four school resource new officers will be employees of the Lee County Sheriff’s Department and their salaries will be paid using monies provided to the sheriff’s department by the school district. The four new school safety officers will be district employees.
School board member Ronnie Bell said the district has already partnered with the Lee County Sheriff’s Department for a tip line which provides safety tips and a place to report suspicious activity.
Last fall, the district and sheriff’s department proposed a plan to split the cost for six new officers between the two departments, but, in October, the board of supervisors rejected a proposal to put officers in schools in Shannon, Saltillo, Mooreville and Guntown.
Les Nichols, president of R.L. Nichols & Associates, a youth protection consultancy, was contracted by the school district last April to evaluate existing safety measures and make recommendations for improving the district’s safety plan.
Nichols said 40 percent of school fatalities are vehicular-related, the highest percentage of school fatalities, and said shooters will often choose schools with less challenging security measures in place.
“It is important to set up conditions where this is less likely to happen,” Nichols said.
District Superintendent Jimmy Weeks said the school district has a head start on several items recommended by Nichols, such as electronic door lock systems and upgraded camera systems.
“Quite a few things that Les recommended we either have already, or have been doing a little bit of, as we have had the funding,” Weeks said.
He said the district safety plan recommended by Nichols was approved, but adjustments may be made depending on what makes sense.
Nichols said bringing on the new security officers will be a huge undertaking for the district.
“A large number of the 100,000 U.S. schools do not have school resource officers. Lee County School District is being very proactive by doing this,” Nichols said.
Based on a 2016 U.S.Department of Education survey of public schools, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that 42% of public schools reported having at least one SRO present at least one day per week in the 2015-16 school year.
The National Association of School Resource Officers estimates approximately 20 percent all U.S. K-12 schools, both public and private, are served by school resource officers.
Nichols said having security officers on campus will serve as a clear deterrent to criminal activity.
“Criminals make a decision based on some rationale, no one just snaps, so they are going to choose a location where they will succeed,” Nichols said. “Having well-trained armed professionals not only serves as an immediate deterrent, it also boosts overall morale, sets a threshold of security as a serious business. They are there as a symbol.”
The school board will begin working on a timeline for future safety improvements next week. Weeks said the recommended safety measures are estimated to cost $1.4 million, and changes will be made over a period of time.
The district receives some funding for its safety team from the Mississippi Community Oriented Policing Services in Schools grant program which provides reimbursement money for each school resource officer in a given district.
MCOPS provides funding to school districts that don’t have a school resource officer program or are working to expand an existing one.
In December, the Mississippi State Board of Education approved $1,777,000 in grant funding for 177 school resource officers in 339 schools in 43 districts.
In the past, this funding was a 50/50 match with district funds and could only be used to pay the salaries and benefits of school resource officers or employ additional officers.
When the Mississippi School Safety Act of 2019 was signed into law in March, this increased the minimum state funding for each school resource officer by the state Department of Education under MCOPS to $10,000 annually.
“That money is to be used to enhance and upgrade the security measures on school campuses,” Weeks said.
Weeks said the board has also approved the purchase of vehicles for the district’s new security team using school district funding.
“This is not something that we have entered into lightly,” Weeks said. “We have hired an expert and are utilizing and employing research-based methods and programs that are proven to have worked, and we are taking the safety of the people on our campuses very seriously.”
