Flat Rock-Hawcreek seeks full-time school resource officer

Leaders from the Town of Hope are joining forces to show their support for full-time security in the Flat Rock-Hawcreek Schools.

Town Manager J.T. Doane, Town Council President Ohmer Miller, council member Nellie Meek and Town Marshal Matt Tallent were among public officials who asked the Bartholomew County Council to support a full-time school resource officer for Hauser Jr.-Sr. High School and Hope Elementary on State Road 9.

Sheriff Matt Myers and Flat Rock-Hawcreek school board president Pat Walters headed the presentation and fielded most questions during the county council’s monthly work session on Monday.

When Myers presents his proposed 2019 budget to the council later this month, it will contain funding for two school resource officers. One will be for the Hope area schools and a second for the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., the sheriff said.

Since early April, Hope Police reserve officer Dalton Nichols has worked 29 hours a week providing security at Hauser and the adjacent Hope Elementary, Tallent said.  His salary is paid by the school corporation, the marshal said.

The hiring of Nichols has been well-received by parents, while many students have begun opening up to the reserve officer and accepting him as a “de facto guidance counselor,” Walters said.

But Myers said the reserve officer has not graduated from a law enforcement academy nor received specialized training necessary for providing school security.

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.