Struthers schools hoping to get resource officer

By Jeanne Starmack

The city would provide an officer from the ranks rather than hire one.

STRUTHERS — The city is hoping to hear soon whether it can provide a resource officer for the schools, city auditor Tina Morell told Struthers Board of Education on Tuesday.

The position is for a police officer who would be assigned to the schools on a full-time basis.

The city had applied for a federal Justice Assistance Grant to fund the position. JAG grants are stimulus money and are administered by the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Morell said.

The city had applied for $85,000 originally but learned several weeks ago that it would get only around $56,000, she said.

That is not enough to hire a new full-time officer for the schools, she explained, so the city has amended its grant application.

The amendment would allow the city to provide an officer from the existing police ranks, she explained.

The grant would pay for the officer while he is working in the schools, and the city would pay his salary when schools are closed, she said.

The city opted out of funding the schools’ juvenile-diversion officer this year, which saved $18,000. The school district still provides its $18,000 share for the officer, Yvonne Wilson, who now works part-time in an office the city provides at the municipal building, said Noble and Morell. Though the diversion officer is still available, a resource officer would be beneficial as well, said Noble, because their jobs are different.

The resource officer would be a police presence at the school “to watch over the kids and refer cases to the diversion officer,” Noble said.

The diversion officer works with kids to keep them from ending up in the criminal system, she said.

Morell said she submitted the grant application amendment Sept. 2. She heard Sept. 9 that the submission was approved and the amendment is under review.