Springdale schools bringing security officers on board

SPRINGDALE — The School District has hired 11 commissioned school security officers and hopes to hire seven more by the end of this month in an effort to make its elementary schools safer.

Damon Donnell, director of student services, provided an update on that initiative and introduced some of the newly hired security officers at Tuesday’s School Board meeting.

In August, the board approved allowing Superintendent Jared Cleveland to develop a security officer program with the aim of placing an officer at each of the district’s 18 elementary schools.

Nine of the 11 security officers hired have completed their 60 hours of training required by the Arkansas State Police and passed an examination, Donnell told the board. Each security officer has passed state police and FBI background checks, and each has passed a 567-question psychological exam, he said.

They are also awaiting approval from the state police that will allow them to carry weapons on campus, Donnell said.

Nine security officers — seven men and two women — made it to Tuesday’s board meeting, each wearing their black and yellow security uniforms.

They included Ashley Shipp, who said she’d been waiting for such a position to open up for a while. She has a daughter who attends a Springdale elementary school, she said.

“I like security, but I like working with kids, so I kind of put them together,” Shipp told the board.

Others in the group said they have experience either in law enforcement or working security. One is a current Washington County sheriff’s deputy.

All of the security officers also are working on obtaining their commercial driver’s license, which would enable them to drive a school bus, Donnell said.

“I’m super proud of this team,” he said.

Three additional people are in the process of getting hired as security officers, he said. All of the security officers hired next will get their training the last week of this month.

Cleveland praised Donnell for his work pulling together this hiring initiative.

“I’m very appreciative of all of you,” Cleveland told the officers. “And I’m thankful that you want to be here to protect our kids.”

The board last month approved a salary schedule for commissioned school security officers. Pay starts at $30,400 per year; the maximum salary is $42,560 for someone with 19 years of experience.

The district, in addition to its security officers, employs school resource officers through the Springdale Police Department. As of Aug. 16 of the district’s 21 school resource officer positions were filled. The district pays the officers’ salaries for 10 out of 12 months annually while the Police Department pays for the other two months of each year, according to Mary Jordan, a public relations specialist for the district.