Licking Valley hires school resource officer
“The police officeris trained to build relationships with the entire school community. hat’s where the real security comes in.”
NEWARK — Another Licking County school district has signed an agreement to hire a deputy sheriff to be stationed on its campus.
Licking Valley, just east of Newark and north of Route 16, is the third to add a resource officer since a midFebruary mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, left 17 students and staff dead and 17 wounded.
Superintendent David Hile said the district had a deputy on site in years past, funded by a federal grant, but the position was eliminated during recessionary budget crunches.
Under an agreement approved by the county commissioners Thursday, the district will pay three-fourths of the cost for the salary of a deputy to be on the campus of the elementary, middle and high schools and district offices.
Deputies earn about $95,000 in salary and benefits. Hile said the district’s share of the salary will be about $71,000.
The goal is not solely to respond to violent incidents. Rather, Hile said, the deputy will interact with students and staff on a daily basis, building trust and being in a position to address issues before they escalate.
“The police officer is trained to build relationships with the entire school community,” he said. “That’s where the real security comes in.”
Last month, the Superintendent David Hile
commissioners approved agreements between the sheriff’s office and Southwest Licking Local in Pataskala and Lakewood Local in Hebron to provide resource officers on their campuses. Other schools in the county, including Newark, already have officers on site.
In other business Thursday, the Licking County commissioners agreed to allow the county’s safety services coordinator to carry a firearm.
The person, who works in the administration building, courthouse and other county buildings, is a part-time police officer in Heath and is certified to carry a firearm, said Commissioner Tim Bubb.