Plan for police officer at Southwest Dubois County School Corp prompts protests

The Southwest Dubois County School Corporation Superintendent Terry Enlow fielded questions and concerns from a few parents at the school board meeting on Monday in regards to the potential hiring of a police officer.

The Southwest School Corporation contacted the City of Huntingburg in the past to potentially co-op the hire of the police officer. According to Enlow the new Huntinburg administration is more interested in the idea. “They see it as a positive. The officer can form better relationships with the kids and it may carry out to the street. Might solve some crimes or might prevent some crimes.” he said. “The ultimate goal is safety. The fact there is a police car sitting outside the building and an officer in the building is a powerful tool for prevention. I can’t imagine that bank robbers target banks with a police car outside them.”

Enlow has had some experience with officers inside a school. While he was superintendent in Orange County, Orleans High School offered office space for an Indiana State Trooper. Enlow attributed lower truancy and a more orderly school body to officer’s presence. “You could immediately see the change in the atmosphere at the school when he (trooper) was there.”

Huntingburg is interested because they see the benefit of an additional officer on the city force. “They have said they are understaffed for the size of the population,” Enlow said. “They see it as a great way to supplement the police department.”

The initial plan identifies the officer as a School Resource Officer and duties could range from dealing with truancy and traffic control in addition to performing classroom instruction and investigations. The school decided not to replace a Home to School Advocate when the previous employee in the position retired and this officer could fulfill those duties as well.

The funds for the officer would be split between the city and the School Corporation. Enlow said the the School Corporation would split the pay for the officer between a potential grant, the transportation fund and the general fund. “We can’t rely on the grants so the majority would be split between the transportation and general funds.”

Beth Hentrup addressed the board and Enlow about the Specialized Instructional Assistants employed by the school corporation. Hentrup was concerned about these teachers leaving for better employment after being on staff for several years. Licensed teachers staff these positions but they are not full-time employees so they don’t receive benefits. She asked how the school couldn’t afford to hire these teachers full-time but could hire a police officer.

According to Enlow the school can’t afford to hire these teachers due to budget concerns. He stated the school’s benefit package is a “Cadillac Health Insurance Plan” and newly hired teachers would be eligible for the package. These packages cost the school corp an average of $18,000 per year per teacher’s family covered. Additionally, under Obama-care the school corporation has to cover children and the children’s families until they are 26 years old.

Enlow also informed Hentrup the funds for the new officer would come from a different “pot” than that used to pay for teachers. The money they were proposing to use could not be used to pay additional teachers and additionally this cost would be split between the City of Huntingburg and the School Corporation. The officer would also be a contract and the school would not be responsible for unemployment benefits if the contract were cancelled.

Lisa Fuhrman, Secretary of Attendance and Guidance at Southridge, stated she didn’t see the need for the police officer. She asked how one officer could protect the entire school and corporation.

Enlow stated the emphasis was on prevention and to respond to incidents if they occur. He also stated the high school and middle school would be the area of most concern for the officer.

Fuhrman stated she didn’t feel the officer was necessary due to the observant nature of the students and faculty at the school already. “Teaching kids to recognize signs of suicide or other factors is free,” she said. “I think the money would be better spent on metal detectors.”

Fuhrman is also frustrated about the expense of the new police officer when factors such as raises for non-teaching staff, faulty telephone systems and computers have not been addressed. “I had someone on the phone yell “God”  because they were frustrated after taking five minutes just trying to get the right extension.”

The officer would have jurisdiction over the entire school district for student truancy and could go to the home of chronically absent students. A frustrated Fuhrman stated if the administration would step up and crack down on absences the problem wouldn’t be as bad.

“The administration is getting it from the superintendent’s office and they are getting it from the state when it (absences) affects graduation rates,” Fuhrman said. “I have done attendance for 19 years and I have never seen anything like this in my entire life with attendance. How many kids exceed what our attendance policy allows and we are letting them go (graduate).”

Amy Marley has a child in the school and stated she was more concerned with work release individuals working on the school grounds. “I have to fill out a form to go on a field trip with my daughter,” Marley said, “and you have work release individuals working at the school while kids are there.”

Assistant School Superintendent Chad Schenck stated the work release individuals were all juveniles and worked on the grounds of the schools under supervision.

Marley asked if this was why hours were cut for janitorial staff and if it caused the recent resignations. Schenck stated the hours for the janitorial staff had not been cut and as far as he knew it didn’t cause the resignations.

Marley then stated she felt that an armed officer being on the school grounds could provoke someone with bad intentions to target the school.

Schenck firmly stated the studies and data in regards to school safety do not support Marley’s opinion. Enlow explained the school administration is in support of adding the police officer and that the school corporation would not have moved forward if it they did not support it.

Another audience member, Greg Painter, asked if the school had identified some threat that would invoke the school to explore adding the officer.

Enlow stated the school has not identified a specific threat; the move was preventative in nature. He added since calls for assistance from the Huntingburg Police Department are routed through the County 911 Call Center, their response times sometimes aren’t ideal if something were to happen. An officer on campus would have direct radio contact with local law enforcement and would already be on the campus if something occurred.

Hentrup commented that she didn’t understand how the recent renovations didn’t include metal detectors but the school corp wanted to add an officer.

Enlow told her he doesn’t have any data to support adding metal detectors.

“At Columbine there was a police officer on staff and that still occurred,” Hentrup stated. “If a student is going to do something, they’re just going to up their ante a little bit if they know a police officer is on staff.”

Enlow stated that in his opinion, if an officer is in the building the school has a better chance to prevent these things from happening and the recent legislature supports adding officers in schools.

“There are a lot of things we can’t answer,” Enlow added. “We have just started to the process.”

The school corporation has sent a proposal for the new officer to the City of Huntingburg where it is under review.