Clark-Pleasant Schools will have its own police department which will co-exist with the school resource officers already in place.
The school board approved the plan this week. The district already hired a security director who will now become the police chief.
The next step is to hire two full-time police officers this summer. They would start work at the schools this fall. Those officers will join the 14 school resource officers already serving part-time at Clark-Pleasant schools.
The salaries of the officers, along with the cost of an active monitoring system, which will track activity via hundreds of cameras at all buildings, will be paid for by revenue from a referendum voters passed in November.
The district plans to spend about $650,000 a year on the salary and benefits of the school’s officers, including school resource officers, and the new director and an administrative assistant.
Earlier this year, Clark-Pleasant hired former Franklin police chief Tim O’Sullivan as security director. He will become chief of the school’s new police department.
The administrative assistant will monitor the security cameras, help with additional training for officers and assist with Clark-Pleasant’s safety plans, Business Director Jay Staley said.
The cost of the monitoring system has not yet been determined, he said.
The referendum is expected to raise about $12 million over eight years for safety and security from a 10 cent per $100 assessed value property tax hike.
O’Sullivan said he hopes to increase the number of full-time officers from two to four, but that is unlikely to happen in the next school year, he said.
Clark-Pleasant Police Department officers will have the same duties and responsibilities as a school resource officer, but school resource officers are typically more involved in classroom activities, including assisting in presentations, than a full-time police officer will be, O’Sullivan said.
While those school resource officers already have a presence at the schools, the advantage of adding full-time police officers as part of a Clark-Pleasant Police Department is in consistency, O’Sullivan said.
“We want to get them established in the buildings, establish a relationship with staff and students and work with surrounding agencies,” O’Sullivan said.
The first two officers who are hired will likely be assigned to Whiteland Community High School and Clark-Pleasant Middle School, but that decision has not been finalized. Even though officers will be assigned to a certain building, they will have to be familiar with all eight schools, he said.
The school board also approved buying three more SUVs for the police department, the first of which was approved earlier this year. Each of those vehicles cost $25,794 and are funded by referendum dollars.
Next steps for the department include hiring the two full-time officers and a security monitor, creating the wall of screens that display security footage across the schools and ensuring the officers go through 40 hours of training from the National Association of School Resource Officers.
Afterwards, those officers will be introduced to administrative staff and, if everything goes as planned, students in the fall.
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Clark-Pleasant Schools will use money from a referendum voters passed in November to pay for security and police salaries as well as three police vehicles. The district will also use that money to pay for additional security monitoring equipment, although Clark-Pleasant has not determined that cost yet.
The district will spend $650,000 of referendum money on salaries:
The two full-time police offers will make $45,000 to $50,000 per year. The 14 school resource officers work part-time and make about $25 per hour.
Security Director Tim O’Sullivan, who will serve as police chief of the new police department, will make $68,000 per year, as agreed to on his current contract, although there is are opportunities for raises.
An administrative assistant who will monitor security footage and assist in school safety plans will make $38,000 to $40,000 per year.
Clark-Pleasant Schools is also paying for three new patrol SUVs, each of which cost $25,794.
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