Funding will pay for police officer to work full time in schools
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
The governor’s office announced that Kennett Square will receive nearly $60,000 to fund the first year of putting a police officer in the schools full time.
The Kennett Area Consolidated School District is one of 81 beneficiaries statewide of $3.9 million in grants designed to improve school safety, Gov. Tom Corbett announced on Friday, Jan. 24.
Signed into law last year by the governor last year, the grant program provides funding to place school resource officers or police officers in schools to address school violence and security, a state news release said.
In November, Kennett Square Borough Council approved the grant application at the urging of Kennett Square Police Chief Edward A. Zunino and Kennett Consolidated School Superintendent Barry Tomasetti. The grant will fund nearly $60,000 the first year and up to $30,000 the second year to pay for a school resource officer. Borough and school officials were not immediately available for comment.
At the time of the application, Zunino explained that the officer would work full time in the school under the command of the police department and “in unison with” the school administration. Right now, officers patrol the high school and kindergarten center regularly but sporadically. He said the extra resource would provide better security monitoring and enable an officer to work proactively to address areas of concern.
“Recent acts of violence have shown that we clearly need to do everything within our ability to keep students and teachers safe in their learning environments,” said State Sen. Joe Scarnati, who spearheaded the law. “I am grateful to Governor Corbett and my colleagues in the Senate and House of Representatives for their support in expanding and enhancing the Safe Schools Grant Program for our commonwealth. These grants announced today will provide financial assistance for school resource officers and school police officers while allowing for local decision making, in order to provide the greatest level of security possible at our schools.”
Eligible schools and municipalities could apply for up to $60,000 for a school resource officer and up to $40,000 for a school police officer. Grantees are required to fund the officer’s position for at least two years. Pending available funding for the 2014-15 school year, grantees will be eligible to receive 50 percent of their 2013-14 award without reapplying, the release said.
A total of 114 applications were received and reviewed based on guidelines of the grant program. Priority for funding was given to schools and municipalities that employ officers who have completed additional training related to interaction with children and adolescents within a school setting, the release said.
