The City of Fort Mitchell is considering shouldering part of the cost of a school resource officer at Blessed Sacrament.
Ted Edgington, director of safety for the Diocese of Covington and current full-time school resource officer at Covington Catholic High School, addressed the council on this topic at their meeting on Monday.
He explained that currently, neither the Diocese nor Blessed Sacrament is formally requesting the city sponsor an officer. Right now, they’re just on a fact-finding mission. Edgington said he intended for the meeting to provide information on behalf of Blessed Sacrament and the Diocese.
“One of the best ways to keep our schools safe is to have a [school resource officer] in every school we can,” Edgington said.
Blessed Sacrament is a local parochial school under the Diocese of Covington. It serves elementary and middle school-aged kids with around 550 students.
A 2022 bill that later became law requires that Kentucky public schools have a school resource officer. As a private school, Blessed Sacrament is not legally obligated to have one. The city of Fort Mitchell is also not legally obligated to provide a private school with an officer.
However, Mayor Jude Hehman and several council members said they didn’t necessarily think that means they shouldn’t provide one.
“I do feel that the city should take some responsibility,” Hehman said. “They are a school in our city limits. Kids from our city go there.”
Some council members spoke in support and cited the recent school shooting in Winder, Georgia.
“I will be open-minded in having this conversation to place a school resource officer at Blessed Sacrament,” council member Greg Pohlgeers said. “I think the Retire Rehire program could be the way to go here.”
Retire Rehire is a statewide program where municipalities hire back retired employees; in this case, they would hire former officers back as SROs.
“My question is, what is the risk if we don’t [sponsor this]?” council member Jerry Deatherage said.
Council member Jeff Dietrich asked Edgington a couple of questions about the program.
“What type of commitment is this? Is it a full-time position?” Dietrich asked.
Edgington said the officer works only when the students are in school—about 180 days. During the summers, they attend training.
“How much of a need is there, typically, for a school resource officer in an elementary and middle school environment versus a high school one?” Dietrich asked.
“I don’t see a difference,” Edgington said. “It is the same priority.”
That priority, Edgington said, is protecting the students.
The Kentucky Association of School Resource Officers also considers an officer beneficial to protecting the school and to creating a positive culture.
“By interacting with students every day, [school resource officers] can build positive relationships with students and help to promote a climate of safety in the school,” the association says on its website.
The Kentucky American Civil Liberties Union does not agree. LINK asked Angela Cooper, communications director at the organization, whether they believe school resource officers benefit Kentucky schools.
“When police enter schools, they do what they are trained to do: detain, handcuff and arrest,” Cooper said. “The presence of police in schools disproportionately pushes children of color and children with disabilities into the criminal legal system, and Kentucky-specific data prove it. Young people need support from teachers, counselors, therapists, social workers and their community – not more law enforcement.”
According to their website, Blessed Sacrament currently has one counselor for its 550 students. A report from the American School Counselor Association endorses a ratio of 250 students per counselor.
Fort Mitchell city council agrees that an SRO would benefit Blessed Sacrament Schools. However, they have to decide if they are willing to bear the legal and financial responsibility of sponsoring that officer. They currently sponsor an SRO at Beechwood Schools.
“Whether this is a public school or a private school, our first responders will be arriving there in an emergency situation because they are in Fort Mitchell,” Hehman said. “That being said, we have no budget for this.”
Hehman and Casmir Thornberry, new Fort Mitchell city attorney, say that this could fall into a “gray area,” legally.
“The issue is, constitutionally, using public funds for private organizations,” Thornberry said. “There is nothing excluding it. But that is the gray area we are in.”
Regarding “funds” required, many other officers stationed in Covington Diocese schools are partly paid by the city and the diocese. At Covington Catholic High School, the school pays half of Edgington’s salary and the diocese pays the other half.
This is just a preliminary discussion. Council will put numbers together to determine how much sponsoring an officer would cost both the city and the school. There are other considerations as well.
“I support it because the school resides in our city,” Hehman said. “But we will also have liability for that officer. That’s another employee, another responsibility the city would take on.”
If Fort Mitchell does not agree to sponsor an officer for Blessed Sacrament Schools, they could ask the county for sponsorship.