Cost and difficulty finding qualified candidates are obstacles some Northwest Arkansas school districts face in adding school resource officers or security personnel.
A recent poll showed most Americans support placing armed police officers in schools. Arkansas' School Safety Commission last month approved a recommendation from one of its subcommittees that every school have an armed presence.
Living up to that expectation, however, may mean school districts have to make some difficult financial decisions, especially as they also are trying to remain competitive for the services of teachers and other employees.
Jeff Perry, superintendent of the Rogers School District, told his School Board last month the district would like to have a resource officer in each of its two dozen schools. The district now has six resource officer positions, one of which is unfilled.
The Rogers Police Department supplies the district all of its resource officers; however, the department is experiencing staffing challenges. Seventeen of the department's 124 officer positions were unfilled as of Aug. 18, according to Keith Foster, a department spokesman.
"It is very difficult for them to allocate additional individuals to us when they are down that many" officers, Perry said.
Starting pay for a Rogers police officer is $44,890, though there are enhancements to pay for experience, language and post-secondary degrees, Foster said.
Rogers is unusual in the city pays the salaries and benefits of all school resource officers for the School District. Other districts including Bentonville, Fayetteville and Springdale pay for the time their school resource officers spend working for them, according to officials in each district.
Bentonville, for example, paid a combined $619,000 for its seven school resource officers and $256,000 for its four commissioned security officers last school year, according to Janet Schwanhausser, the district's deputy superintendent and chief financial officer.
Perry expressed his appreciation of the Police Department, saying officers have been quick to respond anytime a problem has arisen in the schools.
He said the administration is exploring its options and will bring recommendations to the School Board.
"Everything costs, and everything that has a cost has a reduction on something else," Perry said. "So when we get additional security officers, that helps us in one place, but then that takes money from a counselor, a teacher, an athletic program, some curriculum material. It would have some other impact on some other aspect of school."
Perry said if the Rogers School District is intent on beefing up security, it probably would have to hire commissioned security officers, who go through the same training as school resource officers. The district also would have to buy weapons and uniforms for the officers.
Recent school shootings -- particularly the attack in May on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 students and two teachers -- have spurred calls for additional security on school campuses.
A poll in June by Phi Delta Kappa International with a random sample of 1,008 adults showed 80% either somewhat or strongly support armed police officers in schools. The group is a professional association for educators.
However, a 2021 study by researchers from University at Albany and Rand Corporation found while resource officers do effectively reduce some forms of violence in schools, they don't prevent school shootings or gun-related incidents. The researchers used data from U.S. schools from 2014 to 2018.
The researchers also found school resource officers intensify the use of suspensions, expulsions, police referrals and arrests of students, and these effects are more than two times larger for Black students compared to white students.
Mike Reynolds, Fayetteville police chief, addressed Fayetteville City Council on the issue in August 2020.
School resource officers mentor and educate students and build trust with them, which may impact the school's ability to prevent violence, he told the council.
"The mere presence of an SRO in deterring violence and nonviolent crime is immeasurable," Reynolds said. "I can't tell you that we have stopped a school shooting, but our SROs have responded to a few after-hour incidents of students threatening gun violence at the Fayetteville Public Schools."
When officers become involved in issues of discipline that could endanger the lives of students and involve criminal offenses, they collaborate with the school administrators and faculty to determine the best course of action for the student, victim and the school, he said.
Springdale security
Northwest Arkansas school districts big and small are hiring or looking to add security in their buildings.
The Springdale School Board last month approved allowing Superintendent Jared Cleveland to develop a security officer program, with the goal of placing about 18 commissioned security officers at Springdale's elementary schools.
Springdale's Police Department is authorized to have 21 school resource officers covering the middle, junior high and high schools, and 16 of those positions are filled, according to Capt. Jeff Taylor, a department spokesman. Overall, the department is authorized for 153 police officers and has 15 openings, he said.
Resource officers are supported through a partnership with the Springdale Police Department. The School District pays for 10 out of 12 months annually through state Enhanced Student Achievement funding, while the Police Department pays for the other two months of each year, said Mary Jordan, a public relations specialist for the district.
Enhanced Student Achievement funding -- originally called National School Lunch funding -- is state money provided to public schools to help with the educational challenges associated with having high percentages of low-income students, who tend to attain lower levels of student achievement, according to the state.
Another officer in Fayetteville
Fayetteville's City Council on Aug. 16 voted 8-0 to hire an additional school resource officer, reversing a decision it made two years ago to reject a federal grant that would have helped pay for two such officers.
Some of the concern among opponents of the 2020 proposal focused on arrest and citation data at the time, which showed a disproportionate impact on students of color.
Discussion of the latest proposal lasted about three hours. Nearly 30 members of the public spoke to the council, with 17 expressing support and 10 asking the council to reject the measure.
The Fayetteville School District has six school resource officers and is working with the city to fill the new position. The district pays the city the officer's hourly wage during the 178 days school is in session and the Police Department pays his wage the rest of the year, according to Alan Wilbourn, district spokesman.
Bentonville adds an eighth
Bentonville's School Board voted last month to hire a second school resource officer for West High School. That brings the total number of resource officers in the district to eight -- five from the Bentonville Police Department and three from the Benton County Sheriff's Office. The School District covers all expenses -- salary, benefits and equipment -- related to an officer's service in the district, said Leslee Wright, district communications director.
The district also employs four commissioned security officers.
"We've requested additional law enforcement and received a commitment of two more officers from the city of Bentonville for the 2023-24 academic year," Wright said. "The greatest challenge we continue to encounter is a lack of law enforcement candidates. Police departments are currently stretched in their efforts to hire for street patrol openings."
Adam McInnis, Bentonville police spokesman, said the city is working with the district.
Bentonville's Police Department has 92 full-time officer positions. The department is down one officer and likely will have that position filled within a few weeks, McInnis said.
Bentonville's starting pay for an officer who isn't precertified is $40,914; a precertified officer starts at $44,949, McInnis said.
Elsewhere
Fort Smith's School District created its own Police Department in 2019. The department employs 10 full-time officers including Chief Bill Hollenbeck, plus two part-time officers. Their salaries are paid with Enhanced Student Achievement and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, said Zena Featherston, district spokeswoman.
Small districts also are beefing up on security.
Decatur, Northwest Arkansas' smallest school district with 580 students, has school resource officers for the first time this school year: one at the high school/middle school campus and one at the elementary campus, said Superintendent Steven Watkins.
Decatur's Police Department is providing both officers. The city is paying for one and the district is paying for the other.
The Lincoln School District also has a school resource officer for the first time this year, and Prairie Grove added a third resource officer.
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NoneSchool resource officers
School District*Number of SRO positions*Enrollment^
Bentonville*8*18,536
Fayetteville*7*10,349
Fort Smith*10*13,846
Rogers*6*15,603
Springdale*21*21,796
^- Based on Oct. 1, 2021, numbers