KENTUCKY — Nearly three months after a Kentucky law went into effect requiring school resource officers (SROs) in every school building, many districts are still struggling to fill these mandated positions.
According to a report from the State School Security Marshall's office released at the end of August, roughly 55% of schools didn't have an SRO.
Among the 55% are at least two Northern Kentucky districts.
Covington Independent Public School District
Back in August, Covington Independent Public Schools had just two SROs for its nine buildings. Now, the district has filled one position, but still needs six.
"These specialized assignments take a special type of officer," said Ken Kippenbrock, executive director of human resources and operations for the Covington Independent Public School District.
There's been a divide-and-conquer approach to filling these positions, with the Kenton County Sheriff's office handling the search while the school district handles the pay. When the law was passed, it didn't come with funding.
"We try to find and allocate the money within our general fund but you have to take it from something else to accomplish that," Kippenbrock said.
This is all happening while the district tries to fill other open positions for anything from teachers to food service workers.
Bellevue Independent School District
Bellevue schools are facing similar problems.
"Everybody in the state is looking for these people," said Bellevue Mayor Charlie Cleves.
After months of searching, Bellevue Public Schools found a candidate for one new SRO.
The city helped with the search after Superintendent Misty Middleton and the Bellevue Independent Schools Board of Education decided they wanted a Bellevue police officer rather than someone hired by the sheriff's office.
"Fortunately, our police chief, he thinks he's found someone," Cleves said.
What got the candidate interested in the position is something exclusive to the BPD. Last week, Bellevue first responders rallied a team together for a flag football game against the Bellevue High School Football Team. The move was in response to the school canceling the rest of the team's season due to injuries.
"He saw that and he wants to be part of this," Cleves said.
While the sense of community may have inspired one officer to join in Bellevue, there's still the bigger problem of so many unfilled positions across the Commonwealth.
State School Security Marshall
As it stands, the law allows the State School Security Marshall to work with school districts facing these hiring challenges rather than penalizing them for not being compliant with the law.
There's a procedure written into the law for this: "If sufficient funds and qualified personnel are not available for this purpose for every campus, the local board of education shall fulfill the requirements of this subsection on a per-campus basis, as approved in writing by the state school security marshal, until a certified school resource officer is assigned to and working on-site, full-time on each campus in the district."
The state confirms it is working with all districts struggling to comply with the new law.
"The Office of the State School Security Marshal is working alongside every school district in Kentucky to seek full compliance as funding and personnel allow, and to coordinate a plan to overcome any obstacles," said the communications manager for the Department of Criminal Justice Training, Kelly Foreman.
READ MORE
Ohio may end state-mandated reading assessment that holds failing third-graders back
How NKY schools, students fared in newly released state report card data
New app gives Boone County parents ability to track students' school bus locations
