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Olympia Wants School District to Assume More of Cost

Posted on: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Heather Woodward, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

Mar. 30--OLYMPIA -- There are fewer fights and less drug use at Olympia High School thanks to school resource officer Bert McKillip, some students say. But tight budgets at the city of Olympia and the Olympia School District are raising questions about how the school resource officer program -- a partnership between the city and the district -- should be funded in the future. The Olympia City Council agreed last year to fund the program through 2006, but made no guarantees after that. Traditionally, the city has spent $166,000 a year for the officers and the district has spent $40,000. The money pays for two officers -- one at each of Olympia's high schools. "Working in a school setting is just like working in a city," said McKillip, who in the past week has handled cases involving theft and drugs. "You're dealing with the same issues that you may encounter in downtown." But as the city faces declining revenue, council members say they'd like the school district to consider shouldering a larger part of the program's cost. The issue is likely to come up at a special joint meeting of the City Council and Olympia School Board on Monday. "I like this program, and I want to find a way to keep it," Councilman TJ Johnson said. "It comes back to defining the appropriate partnership." Both city and school district officials agree the program is valuable, prevents crime and frees up time for other police officers patrolling the rest of Olympia. The issue, city and school district officials say, is reaching an agreement about how the city and the school district should share the program's costs. Should the school district spend more because some of its students reside outside the city limits? Should the city spend more because the police officers aren't employed in the schools outside the 180-day school year? "What we need is to have a serious conversation where both sides look at the costs and benefits and say, 'Here's what we think would be fair,' " said Peter Rex, a school district spokesman. "The bottom line is that I think students feel safer because we have him here," Olympia High Principal Matt Grant said Wednesday. Some students say they think McKillip's presence acts as a deterrent to crime on school grounds. "It's good to have at least one officer here," said Colton MacDonald, 16, an Olympia High School sophomore. "If we had zero, this place would be even worse than it is." School Officers' duties Below is a list of duties performed by Olympia's two school resource officers. -- Serve as first responders to police calls for service from their assigned school campuses, allowing other patrol officers to focus on the rest of the community. -- Investigate and prepare reports regarding school incidents that occur involving students as victims, suspects or witnesses. -- Investigate child abuse, runaway and missing children cases, as assigned. -- Assist in intervention with children exposed to domestic violence. -- Counsel students and parents and provide referrals to appropriate community services if necessary. -- Serve as guest speakers in classes on a variety of topics, including law, citizenship, substance abuse prevention and driving safety. -- Attend and conduct parent meetings on youth issues such as gangs, substance abuse, runaway/youth-at-risk behavior and youth violence. -- Attend school activities such as sports, drama, music and after-school programs to spend time with students and parents in a nonenforcement setting.

-- Serve as a liaison between the police department, the schools, parents and family-serving agencies. -- Provide in-service training for school staff on child abuse and neglect, substance abuse, gangs, the juvenile justice system and safe schools planning. -- Assist with school-based counseling teams if necessary. Heather Woodward covers education for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-4225 or at hwoodward@theolympian.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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Source: The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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