School to keep officer

The agreement allows the resource officer to lecture and perform other duties.
CANFIELD -- The Mahoning County Career & amp; Technical Center will get to keep its School Resource Officer, at least for another year.
The school's board of education has approved an agreement with the city of Canfield that will have the school picking up 70 percent of the cost while Canfield covers the rest, said Superintendent Roan Craig.
The agreement is effective Jan. 1, and the school's share will be about $39,000.
The school had a three-year grant to cover the complete cost of having the police officer in the school, but that has expired, Craig said.
To keep the officer, the school must assume 70 percent of the cost and the sponsoring municipality has to pick up 30 percent, she said.
"We'll keep our same resource officer," she said, referring to police officer Rick Tarasuck.
The kids know and trust him, she said.
Splitting his year
He will spend nine months in the school and perform regular police duties for Canfield for three months in the summer and on school holidays, Craig said.
The resource officer is always in uniform while in the school and his duties include delivering lectures on the dangers of drug use, monitoring hallways and assisting in keeping order in what Craig described as a very open, very busy building.
The school offers adult as well as secondary education and there is a lot of traffic in and out of the building, she said.
Tarasuck spends time outside the building when the kids arrive for classes and when they leave. He is a member of the Canfield Police Department's bicycle patrol and frequently uses his police bicycle to patrol the school parking lot, Craig said.