Just a few weeks after a 14-year-old student was accused of shooting and killing four people at Apalachee High School in September, the Barrow County Board of Education agreed to hire eight additional school resource officers across the school district.
Now, only three of the eight positions have been filled, district staff said at a board meeting this week.
“We are concerned that multiple months in we’re not getting more applicants for this,” said Matt Thompson, the district’s chief of staff. “That is critical for safety, for our school culture, and it’s what our community overwhelmingly wanted.”
District officials pointed to challenges statewide and across the U.S. with hiring school resource officers. They’re looking for candidates who are motivated to work with students every day as well as keep the school safe, Thompson said.
“It’s one thing to have the funding,” Mo Canady, the director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a prior interview, “but the other half is finding the people to do it.”
Board member Kayla Hendrix added that the shooting prompted nearby districts to also add more officers, perhaps further narrowing the pool of applicants in the area.
The school system previously contracted with the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office to provide 17 officers, which includes one lieutenant and two sergeants. The district and the sheriff’s office currently share the cost of the resource officers. The district has 10 elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools and three alternative education programs. The National Association of School Resource Officers recommends one officer in every school.
Officials have credited the two school resource officers at Apalachee High with quickly intercepting the alleged shooter Sept. 4. The suspect is accused of killing two 14-year-old students, two teachers and injuring nine others.
In a survey about school safety measures, almost 90% of the students, staff and parents who responded said that they agreed with adding more security personnel. More people were in favor of adding security personnel than they were for mental health enhancements, implementing student ID badges, introducing bag policies or purchasing weapons detection systems.
Officials in the school system and the sheriff’s office will be reviewing the job descriptions to see if they can change anything to entice more applicants.
“Ultimately, we need to get those positions filled,” Thompson said.
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