FARMINGTON – SAD 9 officials and police are searching for new funds to provide a resource officer at Mount Blue High School.
Because a federal grant that has funded the program since 1997 was rejected last month, officials say the program that places a police officer in SAD 9 schools is in jeopardy.
Farmington police, SAD 9 administrators, school staff and students all agree that serious discipline infractions have declined and students have felt safer at Mount Blue High School since the resource police officer has been there.
Mount Blue High School Principal Greg Potter said Farmington officer Shane Campbell is “an incredible asset to the school, to the whole district.”
Students are surveyed each year and the safety feeling and safety responses are “extremely high,” Potter said.
A group of kids visited Potter’s office Wednesday asking what they could do to keep Campbell at the school. Staff have written letters. Potter said he hoped something could be worked out to maintain this “very valuable program.”
SAD 9 and Farmington Police Department have applied for grants through the federal Safe and Drug Free School program since 1997. Federal money is given to Maine and the state administers it. The grants in the past have targeted reducing drug, alcohol and tobacco use and giving a feeling of safety in the schools, said Gerry Libby, SAD 9 grant writer.
This year, the grant targeted helping youth not normally served by school systems, including homeless, pregnant and parenting teens and school dropouts, Libby said.
Libby said three proposals out of 14 submitted to the state were funded but the district was not in the top three.
School and police officials learned in late May that the grant was not funded.
Officials are considering applying for a federal Community Oriented Policing Services grant, Farmington Police Chief Richard Caton III said, to fund the position but it won’t help this coming school year. The grant funds up to $125,000 for three years, he said, but with that “we have to guarantee that the officer will be picked up for one full-budget year,” which could be up to 1 years of funding depending on when the grant is awarded. The grant application is due June 13.
SAD 9 directors will discuss the issue at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, at Mount Blue High School. If there is a feeling of support from SAD 9 directors, Potter said, they’d go forward with the application.
The grant that expires this month covered Campbell’s position – about $35,000 to $36,000 with fringe benefits, including health insurance for 38 weeks in school. Caton’s budget covers Campbell’s position during summer months, which is about $14,000 including benefits. Campbell’s salary is $31,100 a year, Caton said, and health insurance is about $7,500.
When Campbell “is at the school, he deals with all the situations at the school,” he said. “We don’t have to have a patrolman or detective go up there.”
If the school position is not funded, officers will have to be pulled from other duties to handle school-related issues, Caton said.
“With the town going through a budget crunch, the district going through budget, we as a community need to prioritize… From a law enforcement aspect an officer in the school is a priority.”
SAD 9 Assistant Superintendent Paul Knowles said the resource officer has met critical needs on many fronts.
“Serious discipline infractions are down,” Knowles said. “Just that presence is a positive influence.”
dperry@sunjournal.com
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