Grant helps county schools to add more school resource officers

Grant money is funding new positions for school resource officers (SROs) to boost their presence in schools. This month, Randolph County Commissioners approved two new positions to support three of the four Randolph County School (RCS) zones.

Dr. Stephen Gainey, school superintendent, said they are moving quickly on adding to their law enforcement coverage. “There’s one already in the Randleman zone, one in Eastern, in Southwest,” he said. “Now we’ll have five SROs for those elementary schools, covering 12 schools.”

It won’t end there. The fourth zone, Archdale-Trinity, will also get new SROs, funded through the Archdale-Trinity Tax Council. RCS is finalizing an agreement with Archdale Police Department. It’s the district’s first SRO agreement with an agency outside the sheriff’s office.

“Then the SRO we already have funded for up there, for elementary schools, is going to stay on Hopewell [Elementary] full time,” Gainey said. “So, all five of those schools will have somebody, whereas the other three zones will have 12 schools with five SROs.”

Gainey affirmed that these are not in response to any specific safety concerns. Rather, the positions are now possible because they just received the North Carolina Stronger Connections grant.

“Schools have three major groups that make them special,” Gainey said. “There’s obviously the students, and then it’s the staff. But you have to make sure you’re providing safety for the parents, too, because our parents play big roles in making schools successful. And then, if you want to add a fourth group, there’s those wonderful community members who don’t have anybody in school but still support the schools.”

The district’s 13 middle and high schools, he said, have each had a full-time SRO since before he became superintendent. They were each assigned to be on call for one of the elementary schools and would respond if needed.

In 2022, a safety grant allowed RCS to add the four SROs they have now in the elementary schools, one per zone. They began work on Jan. 1, 2023.

On Aug. 18 of this year, the school board accepted the Stronger Connections award for $482,567 to fund two more SRO positions for the next two academic years. The previous safety grant has also been renewed, Gainey said.

Once the Archdale-Trinity agreement is finalized, Archdale, Trindale, Trinity, John Lawrence, and Hopewell Elementary will have an officer present eight hours each day students are in class. RCS is working with Capt. Jeremiah Batchelor with the sheriff’s office community-based programs division and Archdale Police Chief David Jones to fill each of those positions based on jurisdiction.

None of the existing schools should see less of their current SROs, Gainey said. “We’re just getting more coverage in the end. We’ve never substituted anything. This is an addition. It’s supplemental.”

Nor is the construction expecting to stretch or decrease those safety resources, since those are to replace existing buildings. The superintendent said county growth is not at the point of necessitating new schools.

Gainey stressed his appreciation for the partnerships that make the SROs possible. “I couldn’t thank the law enforcement agencies — around this county, and the municipalities, and the sheriff’s department — I couldn’t thank them enough for what they do for us. They’re really, really good to us.”