Earle schools want to foster partnership with city

Earle schools want to foster partnership with city

District hopes for use of community center, resource officer

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Earle School District is looking to partner with the city to use the community center and for a school resource officer.

State appointed interim Superintendent Dr. Richard Wilde told the city council that the school district would like to put two offices inside the community center and share the operating costs.

“We would staff that for daytime use and would provide supervision of the facility and share some of the costs related to that facility,” Wilde said.

Wilde said the school district plans to put two computers at the community center and create a parent center.

“We are trying to get community members to utilize that facility for both the district and the city,” Wilde said.

The school district also will set its fees to rent school facilities at the same rate as what the city charges to rent the community center so as not to be in competition with the city.

The community center is located on Hwy. 64. The city has made extensive renovations to the building to make it available for use for public functions. The once run down building is now being rented regularly.

“The fee structure would be such that if you are using our facility or the city’s facility it would cost the same,” Wilde said.

Wilde also pitched the council a proposal to partner with the city for a school resource officer.

A school resource officer is a uniformed police officer hired by the school district to oversee security in the school and acts as a liaison with students to improve relations with local law enforcement.

Wilde said the school district is proposing to pay the city to supervise its resource officer.

“Our security person is an auxiliary officer,” Wilde said. “What we would be asking is that that person work under the supervision of the police chief. We would be willing to pay for the supervision of that position.”

Wilde said the school district is also going to ask the county to provide them with a school resource officer for the high school so that they can relocate their current SRO to the elementary school. “We currently have that one person covering the en- tire district,” Wilde said.

“That’s part of our plan to improve security for the school district. It would be no burden on the city. It would be funded by the district.”

Mayor Sherman Smith said he liked the ideas and thanked Wilde for being proactive and working with the city.

“I think both of these are good proposals,” Wilde said. “And I appreciate the foresight you have in wanting to collaborate with the city.”

By Mark Randall