Vice Mayor: School Board holding Pines “hostage” over officer contract
Pembroke Pines commissioners said Wednesday the School Board of Broward County isn’t paying its share of a $1.8 million school resource officer contract.
Vice Mayor Angelo Castillo said the district was underpaying 12 SROs, or cops assigned to protect school campuses, by more than $1.6 million, with the city being forced to bare the brunt of salaries, pensions, benefits and vehicle repairs.
“We’ve been held hostage by the school board for a very, very long time,” Castillo said. “The school board needs to pay for those cops. They’ll hold us over a barrel forever. We have to put out a cost structure that’s fair to everyone to prevent laying off officers, which is a very real possibility next year in the current economy.”
City officials inked a resolution with the board in June 2008 to split the tab on an agreement dispatching officers to the city’s public schools. That contract, enforced through June 2012, puts 12 resource officers into 14 public schools and Somerset Academy, a district-run charter school.
According to expense forms, the district chips in $29,126 per officer for the 2009-10 school year, up from $20,653 in 2008-09. That’s nearly $350,000 for the dozen SROs.
City staff, meanwhile, coughs up roughly $1.6 million for the Pines Police Department lawmen, which includes salary, sick leave, pension and other health benefits. The price tag might be higher, since it doesn’t include maintenance and gas for police cars, added Castillo.
Officials will discuss the agreement during the Nov. 17 meeting.
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Comments
Why doesn't the School Board have their own security officers, who make much less, work at the more quiet and disciplined schools, thereby leaving available funds for police officers? Not all schools needs cops as SRO's. Some schools are very good and could get by with just security who could call for police intervention if it's ever necessary. Some SRO's are getting paid to just chitchat at the front office, have coffee and lunch, talk on the phone, play poker on their PC, or run off the school grounds to run errands because there's nothing to do. If they ever come across a child it's to play jokes on them, because they're bored to tears. At these schools their presence isn't even made because they don't even walk the halls! Police officers should be present at all the high schools and only certain middle and elementary schools. All other schools could be handled the School Board security officers.
What our country has come to! In "our" day schools were a place of respect and discipline. Now some schools have become a kiddie paradise where the kids rule the staff at their pleasure and the parents blindly back their children. What the future holds for us only God knows!
Posted by: nottinamazesme | October 27, 2009 7:57 AM