Fewer School Resource Officers For Coral Springs Elementary Schools

Published January 2008

By Nicol Jenkins
Editor

Who is protecting your child at school?

In a day and age where school shootings and violence are becoming the norm, school resource officers are at the front line of defense.
However this school year, those responders known as school resource officers (SROs) are becoming less visible at Coral Springs elementary schools.

The Coral Springs City Commission recently approved an agreement with the School Board of Broward County that provides only 6 SROs to serve at 12 local elementary schools for the 2007/2008 school year. This agreement already went into effect in the beginning of the school year with fewer SROs at those schools; however commissioners approved final documents this past week.

“It was a tough cut to make and continue to make,” said Mayor Scott Brook.

This is the first school year that the city has axed the number of SROs at area elementary schools and Brook credits the cuts to budget constraints. Although, safety is still top priority at every Coral Springs middle and high school where each has one SRO.

“Last year before budget reform we had one for every school, but with budget reform now we have the resource officer shared per two elementary schools. It has worked out great. To my understanding they are at each school every day and there is still a daily presence,” Brook said, adding. “In every middle and high school, there is an SRO. The School Board could not fully fund SROs at every school because of budget constraints; if they did we would have one in every school. We still provide an officer presence at every school, but at elementary schools there is a little bit less of a need for internal problems.”

The city and School Board cover the costs for SROs, according to School Board officials. The recent agreement calls for the School Board to offset the costs of this program by funding the city with $12,000 annually for each officer. That cost adds up to $156,000, according to city reports. SRO costs for summer school will also be covered by the School Board at $8.60 per hour. Countywide, the number of SROs has diminished from 166 to 152, according to Robert Dinkel, Supervisor with the Special Investigation Unit of the School Board of Broward County. “The city has been an outstanding partner of providing law enforcement services over the years,” he said.

SROs are responsible for various duties on school campuses including: promoting positive relations between students and law enforcement officers, fostering a better understanding of law enforcement, and identification and prevention of delinquent behavior, among other duties.
With the agreement, one officer is assigned to two elementary schools and that officer can choose how they want to break up the time between the two schools, according to Sergeant Lee Horton, city supervisor for school resource officers.

“I leave it up to the officers, some break up the morning and afternoon and others spend one day at one school and another at the other. If it’s 40 hrs they need to spend 20 in each school,” Horton said.

The six SROs that previously served the city elementary schools have been re-assigned to road patrol, according to Horton.

For about 25 years, the city has been providing SROs at middle and high schools and three per one elementary school. September 11 changed the policy to one SRO per elementary school until now.

“We have managed to keep them in schools after the money has dried up, but we were forced to limit the number of officers in schools after budget cuts,” said Vice Mayor Vince Boccard. “We put them back on the streets to have them protect our citizens at the same time we didn’t want to give up all school resource officers.”

School Board member Stephanie Kraft said hasn’t heard many concerns from parents regarding the reduction in SROs at the elementary school level.

“The parents said they have not noticed a decrease in services,” Kraft said. “I’m a big supporter of the SRO program. It really helps to diffuse situations.”

Coral Springs mom Lauri Oliver says she prefers once SRO per school but would rather have them at the middle and high school level.
“We felt very comfortable when we had our own resource officer because she was always looking over the children, however we understand and would rather see cuts take place at the elementary school level than the high school and middle school level,” said Oliver, who has four children attending all levels. “If they were taken away from the middle or high schools we would be fighting. At elementary schools it’s only a secondary issue for an external threat.”

However, there may be a possible solution. Boccard said the city has suggested seeking support from retired law enforcement officers to volunteer at the schools.