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Schools

Training for school-based officer is a concern

The board wants a resource officer at J.D. Floyd Elementary who knows how to deal with kids.

By TOM MARSHALL
Published October 19, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - If money can be found, J.D. Floyd Elementary School may soon get the school resource officer parents have been seeking, the Hernando County School Board decided Tuesday.

But it will only happen if that sheriff's deputy is fully trained on the nuances of working with - and sometimes arresting - children.

"I have a problem with putting an armed officer on campus, especially with elementary students, without the training," said board member Sandra Nicholson.

Board members said they were concerned by a Sunday report in the St. Petersburg Times outlining recent problems with the district's school-based officers program, including a recent incident in which a 13-year-old special-needs boy with English-language and reading deficits may not have received an adequate Miranda warning or counseling from school officials before waiving his rights to remain silent.

In that Oct. 4 incident at Fox Chapel Middle School, the boy read his own rights on a statement sheet and was then asked whether he understood his rights, according to the deputy's report. While school officials maintain they followed district policy by making sure an administrator was present, the boy said he was alone with the deputy at that time and didn't realize he was being considered a criminal suspect.

Board member Pat Fagan said students should certainly be read their Miranda rights before being interrogated.

"You still don't know whether they understand," added board Chairman Jim Malcolm. "These are kids, aren't they?"

Superintendent Wendy Tellone said the incident - and two others in which school administrators weren't present during police interviews, in violation of district policy - has prompted the district to provide further training to principals and other administrators on their responsibility to protect student rights.

"We already have training in that area," she said after the workshop meeting. "We obviously need a little reminder."

The question of adding an officer at Floyd was raised last month by Kirsten Krienes, chairwoman of the School Advisory Council, who said the large number of sexual predators living near the school justified the additional protection.

James Knight, director of student services, said there was no money in the budget to add such an officer in the middle of the year. Other elementary schools face similar levels of neighborhood crime or threat compared to Floyd, which enrolls students in kindergarten through Grade 7, he said.

But since the district's other middle schools have SROs, he said, the school would qualify for an officer next fall when it adds eighth grade.

Security director Barry Crowley said the district has added security gates and cameras to the school's perimeter. "Floyd is extremely secure, compared to just about any school in the district," he said.

Krienes said parents were already on heightened alert for suspicious adults on campus or in the neighborhood. But she said the presence of an officer could serve as a deterrent.

Board members said they would consider adding the officer at midyear if the school or district can find about $20,000 in funding. The district pays $40,000 per year for each middle school SRO through its state Safe Schools grants. The Sheriff's Office pays for officers at the high school level.

Maintaining campus security isn't the primary role for SROs in Hernando, Knight said later. Under the district's agreement, officers teach and counsel students as well as conduct criminal investigations.

But Malcolm said the Fox Chapel incident should prompt the board to take a closer look this fall at the ways in which SROs operate, including the potential for teachers or students to misunderstand their multiple roles.

"We have to be careful of that," Tellone said. "Too much counseling can be a problem. Because a lot of the students really relate to them, and we want that, we want them to connect with students. But we also have to be cautious, because if they become aware of something they have to act on (as law enforcement officers), they have to act."

Tom Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1431.

[Last modified October 19, 2006, 06:42:05]