Craven County Commissioners approve funding for a school resource officer at Riverside Leadership Academy.
The County Commissioners approved funding for an SRO at Riverside Leadership Academy in the Creekside community of Craven County, NC on July 15, 2024.
During the meeting, Chairman Jason Jones said Vice-Chair Dennis “Denny” Bucher, County Manager Jack Veit and Sheriff Chip Hughes met with RLA’s leadership.
Sherrif Hughes said two weeks before the budget was approved, the school asked about the options for providing an SRO.
“It’s tough enough to find deputies as it is, but an SRO is a special individual who has to wear multiple hats and honestly, there’s not a lot of deputies that are standing in line to be school resource officers,” Hughes said.
He said they were told 440 students were enrolled in the school.
Hughes said the total cost to fund an SRO would be $168,953 and the school agreed to pay two thirds.
The cost of the annual salary and benefits are estimated to be $78,358 and a one-time cost of equipment and other items is $97,606, totaling $175,964, according to information in the meeting packet here.
Denny Bucher said the commissioners committed to providing a school resource officer for every public school several years ago and recommended moving forward.
Commissioner Beatrice “Bea” Smith asked, “Is the school available to all students who want to attend?”
Jack Veit said, “I did communicate with a representative of the school in hopes that they would be here today in fear of those types of questions coming up.”
He said there was an enrollment process, but he didn’t know what the criteria was.
“It is not a traditional enrollment school where you have a district like we’re familiar with,” Veit said.
“They can draw from other counties and anytime there’s an application process, they can say, I mean technically they can say no. I’ve had students apply to Arapahoe (Charter School) and there’s a possibility of no, but I generally think they, most all of the time, they say yes 90 something percent of the time,” Commissioner Chadwick Howard said.
“How come they waited till this point? They organized this many months ago. Why didn’t they come to us then and give us an idea that they needed this SRO,” Commissioner Thomas Mark said.
Veit said, “They’re a new school, they’re still figuring it out.”
“I think the sheriff’s right. If we could have got this in April or May it would have been a lot easier to deal with. I don’t deny the fact that the sheriff’s going to have a hard time finding somebody between now and August 15. It’s going to be almost impossible I believe,” Veit said.
Commissioner Shevel “Sherry” Hunt asked, “Did they happen to mention how many students or what percentage are not Craven County students?”
“No, ma’am, and honestly, I did not ask,” Hughes said.
“I’m just curious, because I know that there will be students from other counties attending,” Sherry Hunt said.
“Just to that point, we have kids from Craven going to the charter school at Arapaho and we’re not paying for their SRO,” Bucher said.
He continued, “They didn’t give us that information.”
Chadwick Howard made a motion to approve the request and said, “looking at the Pamlico contract, I’m going to go with the percentages they had with 9.5 months would be paid by the school and 2.5 would be paid by us. That would be a 79-21% split and also 100% of the onboarding costs would be paid by the school.”
“We have a responsibility, I think as a Board of Commissioners, to make sure that all of our schools are safe. When I say all of our schools, I’m talking about even Christian schools, non-public schools such as this charter school,” Jason Jones said.
He said he did not agree with Howard’s motion.
Jones said, “I think that we want to share in the cost of more so than the equipment.”
“I think that we as a Board of Commissioners ought to let them pay two thirds and we pay a third,” Jones said.
Bea Smith said she had mixed emotions.
“I understand that we have a responsibility to all children and I’m passionate about seeing that children are cared for, however, I do have trouble with when we don’t include everyone and many of these schools do not. I do not feel comfortable voting for something for a school that would not include me or citizens from my district, so I’m reluctant to say yes until I learn more about the school and what is happening at the school,” she said.
“I’d caution that statement. I usually don’t disagree with you, but I don’t think nothing about this charter school prohibits any certain group of folks that can attend or can’t attend.”
Smith said, “You are aware that I’m not. Until I am aware that all students are included.”
Bucher said, “When you say all students, what are you of the opinion that some students.”
Smith responded, “I don’t know. I’m not of the opinion…being a black woman in Craven County understanding that some schools, some places do not basically include all races of children, there are a limited amount of some races and so I’m little bit cautious about it. I’m not accusing this school.” Smith said.
Commissioner Etteinne “ET” Mitchell said, “this is funded out of the public school monies by the state of North Carolina so it has to adhere to the same non-discriminatory practices that are required in all public schools.”
“I think Ms. Bea brings up a good question. It’d be nice if they were here to answer her question…if you really want this, bothering to show up would be a nice gesture,” Howard said.
ET Mitchell said, “I think most of us support parents’ ability to choose the right educational support that as well format for their children.”
She continued, “I’m not going to be the person who says we protect students in some schools and not in others.”
Thomas Mark asked if the students were going to have to pay.
“You fund the school system for every child that’s enrolled in that school from Craven County. That money shifted to the charter school, so it’s actually publicly funded. That’s why we’re calling it a public school so if that happened in Carteret, Pamlico or Jones (counties), say one of them came here, that money from that county is going to come along with the child to the school.”
He said he didn’t believe there was any tuition and said he couldn’t speak on fees.
“Every child that leaves the school and goes to another school, public or private, the public school system loses that money,” Smith said.
She said she could understand if someone determined that a school is not for them.
“I think there should be some limits on how far public money should go to protect private entities,” Smith said.
Howard said, “it’s going to be a diverse school. Students from all over Craven County, progressive in mind.”
He said he thought Smith would approve of the diversity of the population and curriculum.
The county manager referenced Riverside Leadership Academy’s website and said, they have open enrollment and don’t discriminate based on race, religion, ethnicity.
“I would say that the general statutes are pretty clear on this and the law that this is not a private school this is a public school,” Veit said.
The board discussed one-time costs that are outlined in the above table and the chairman estimated it at $88,120.
Mark said, “we’ve gone up quite a bit. It used to be an SRO appointment was $100,000, now we’re saying it’s $168,000.”
Veit said there weren’t any more Dodge Chargers, which were affordable in the past when they hired school resource officers.
He said the sheriff had to replace a charger in the fleet so he could pull a charger. Veit said there was no other option.
Mark said, “There’s no option other than a Tahoe?”
Veit said, “The Tahoe would actually be in with another deputy or sheriff’s office personnel, and he would transfer a charger from the field to the school.”
Mark said the SRO is for 10 months.
The county manager responded, “An SRO is for 12 months but about nine and a half months of it’s in the school.”
Mark said, “The sheriff is getting a bonus.”
Veit said, “I feel like I’m speaking for him. There is a tremendous amount of training that has to happen.”
Smith said the car doesn’t belong to the school; it belongs to the sheriff’s department.
Someone said, “It belongs to the county.”
Before the board voted on the motion, Bucher announced that he and Jones were going to vote no.
He said, “Not that I don’t want to approve this, but I’m going to vote no on the percentage and the one-time deal and at the appropriate time I want to make a motion that we go with the 66.33% that we originally talked about.
The board voted on Chadwick Howard’s motion for the school to pay 100% of one-time equipment costs and 79.5% for salary, benefits and consumables. The motion failed after Commissioners Mark, Hunt, Howard voted yes, and Commissioners Mitchell, Smith, Jones and Bucher voted no.
Bucher made a motion for the county to pay 33% and the school to pay 66% of the total costs. The board unanimously approved it.
According to a letter in the meeting packet, Amy Hobgood, RLA’s board chair, said the school, “is prepared to cover one-third of the costs associated with employing an SRO. Additionally, we intend to secure a grant that will also contribute one-third of the funding required for this position.”
NewBernNow.com asked the sheriff about the status of the SRO.
He said they are actively recruiting for an SRO and “There will be a deputy at the school on day one until one is hired.”
He said if anyone is interested in the position, they can call 252-636-6620.
We asked Siobhan Brewer, RLA’s executive director, why there wasn’t a representative at the commissioners’ meeting, and she said, “We were in all-day training and unable to attend an 8:30 a.m. meeting. We intend to be present for the evening meeting next week.”
Brewer also said approximately 450 students have completed registration information.
We asked how many students are Craven County residents?
She responded, “I do not have that breakdown at this time.”
By Wendy Card, Editor. Send an email with questions or comments.
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