Local Pembina Hills school division trustees, administrators and parents are continuing their push for a school resource officer (SRO) in the Westlock area at a public meeting on Thursday evening.
About 30 people gathered at the Legion to hear from Barrhead RCMP officers and school administrators on the benefits of an SRO.
“The municipalities do get bang for their buck,” said R.F. Staples Secondary School principal David Garbutt. “These are the young people that are going to be our future adults in our community and I think the more that we can educate them and mold them into good citizens, the better off we all shall be.”
The message from the meeting was clear.
Attendees were encouraged to spread the message on the perceived positives of full-time policing in schools and that included lobbying Town of Westlock councillors.
“In terms of next steps, where do we go from here?” said Westlock Elementary School principal Pierre Ouimet, who also acted as moderator for the meeting. “If you see value in this and see it as important, get the word out. We have to let our mayor and town councillors know that this is important.”
While the county and Clyde have committed to the program, the town has refused to put up any money.
“I’ve spoken with our mayor, on several occasions and they are in principle in favour of this program,” said Jan Hoffart, school board trustee for Westlock Subdivision 3.
“I can’t speak to their hesitancy … but I will say that one thing, I have heard form our mayor and he has heard more from people that are opposed to funding this program than people that are in favour.”
SROs are police officers based in schools full-time and undertake relationship, building, educational activities and law enforcement work.
RCMP Const. Robert Heinz has been the SRO in five Barrhead-areas schools for about eight months and is dedicated to the program.
“I believe in the position,” he said. “It is without a doubt the way society is changing now children need to be reminded of dangers. They need to be reminded of their behavior and the consequences of it.”
Heinz’s tasks are varied. He administrates the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, builds positive relationships with students and works on day-to-day general policing duties that occur in a school environment.
That work is undertaken across five Barrhead area schools, including the high school and the four elementary schools that feed into it.
On in a typical week Heinz will spend Monday and Friday at the high school and the rest of his time at the others.
“Monday, the kids are wired coming back from the weekend,” Heniz said. “Stuff has happened over the weekend which I might have to deal with.
“Friday of course, they are gearing up for the weekend.”
While no one at the meeting knew the exact monetary requirement for an SRO in the 2015/16 school year, it was put forward that it would cost around $150,000 for one officer.
The school board has committed to fund 50 per cent, or $75,000, with the remainder being made up of contributions from municipalities.
But it’s not a one-off funding commitment. Barrhead RCMP Detachment boss Sgt. Bob Dodds acknowledged that for the SRO program to work there needs to be ongoing money available.
Should the school board find the missing sixth of the funding shortfall, it will still place a significant burden on area schools.
Garbett noted that as the SRO would be spending more time at R.F. Staples, that school would fund a larger component of the $75,000, up to 60 per cent.
In a system with fewer dollars, and administrators being asked to do more with less, another job at the school would have to go.
“I’ll be honest,” said Garbett. “At R.F., the way the budget is now we really can’t afford to do this. It’s not like we have the cash sitting around to do it.
“I would be eliminating another position in order to create this position, but it’s the right thing to do.”
The estimated $150,000 cost is not entirely for the officer’s wage. The role comes with a marked police car, and there are also training and administration costs.
Even if the town agrees to fund the remaining $25,000, per year, or the school board is able to find some other avenue for ongoing funding, it doesn’t mean there are police officers that can move straight into the role.
Sgt. Dodds said that finding the right officer for the job was important.
“Right now our mobility is very limited,” he said. “If you pulled the trigger today and bang, we now had a school resource officer there won’t be one in the position tomorrow.
“You have to anticipate that it could take weeks or months to get that person in the role.”
