Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board members approved an additional appropriation to pay for four new school security officers (SSOs) who will be at the entrances of Columbus East and North high schools, as well as another school resource officer (SRO) for the fall of 2025.
The appropriation of $290,000 out of operating referendum funds was approved 6-0. Board member Logan Schulz, District 6, attended the meeting remotely, and per Indiana Code, was unable to vote on budgetary items virtually.
The SSOs, which are new positions, will be armed and stationed at the high school entrances with two officers at each entrance. The SSOs will build relationships with students, maintain door security and screen both students and visitors as they come in the buildings throughout the day, according to BCSC.
While SROs are technically employees of either the Columbus Police Department or Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department and contracted to BCSC, the SSOs will be BCSC employees, and likely retired law enforcement, according to BCSC officials.
Members were given a presentation about the new positions during their last meeting on March 31. BCSC first had to ask the Bartholomew County Council to appropriate nearly $100,000 out of its own budget to pay for the additional SRO, which will technically be a sheriff’s department employee contracted out to BCSC, with BCSC reimbursing the cost with their own appropriation.
The county council consented to that on April 14, where Sheriff Chris Lane indicated it’s more likely the new SRO will begin sometime in January, saying “there is a curve here (in terms of) hiring and training. We have a current hiring process that’s going on right now, so hopefully we can get this position filled as soon as possible.”
The additional SRO brings the BCSC’s total up to six— four employed by Columbus police and two by the sheriff’s office.
The appropriation pays for the SSOs and SRO, and any associated equipment, for a half-year beginning in August through December, and administrators will need to come back sometime in the fall to fund the positions further into the future, Superintendent Chad Phillips said.
One driver of the SSO positions is the district’s unique set-up in that BCSC offers open campus lunch for the high schools and has a large number of students who regularly travel between the East and North campuses for course offerings, administrators have said.
The SSOs are to ensure that only authorized students, staff and visitors enter at North and East. They will also respond to life-threatening incidents, such as an active shooter situation, if necessary.
During the March 31 meeting, Brett Boezeman, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, said they had worked with local law enforcement over the past six to eight months to work through the job descriptions and requirements. Some of those are that the SSOs would be Tier One law enforcement academy-trained, have 24 hours of firearms training, receive certification from the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) and undergo de-escalation training.
During Monday’s meetings board members also approved a new BCSC policy G101 “Armed Security,” allowing BCSC to hire the school security officers.
The breakdown of the appropriation is as follows:
- Salary/Benefits increase due to new SSOs ($115,000)
- Additional SRO ($95,000)
- Equipment to outfit new SSOs ($40,000)
