Chester supervisor: Schools seek to bring back deputies as school resource officers

CHESTER In a stark turnaround to a controversial 2015 move that dropped deputies from schools in favor of private security, Chester officials are now in talks to reinstate deputies at some Chester campuses, according to Chester County Supervisor Shane Stuart.

If the proposal is adopted, the schools would have a mix of resource officers and private security guards, said Stuart, a former school resource officer himself. The controversy came to a head last summer when the school district dropped the deputies and hired a private agency to handle school safety. Before that time, schools and county officials each paid half of the cost of four deputies.

Schools officials said last year they wanted a security presence on all campuses andopted for armed guards versus police. Sheriff Alex Underwood said that security for students and staff without a police presence would not be as strong.

Former superintendent Agnes Slayman, who pushed to drop deputies last year, resigned after allegations of threats against employees and others, including Underwood.

Chester County Council members discussed a proposal for bringing back deputies as school resource officers this week during talks about next year’s budget, said Stuart, who supports bringing back the resource officers.

Schools officials told county leaders the district would pay for half of the cost if the county would pay for the other half, Stuart said. Some council members concerned about costs agreed to discuss adding three resource officers where the schools would pay half and the county half, Stuart said.

A public budget meeting is set for Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the Chester County Government Building, 1476 J.A. Cochran Bypass, for further discussion on how many resource officers might be placed in schools and who will pay for them, Stuart said. The county budget will likely be approved later this month.

The current proposal apparently started with a possibility for as many as six deputies - one for each middle and high school - then was whittled to five, and now is down to three. Chester County Council member Alex Oliphant said that the resource officers never should have been dropped to begin with and he is in favor of the six resource officers, but the proposed hiring of three after the talks at this week’s meeting is a “good start.” Councilman Archie Lucas said he agrees that the three officers is a positive for school safety.

A spokesperson for Chester schools said she was unaware of the talks and current superintendent Angela Bain, who was hired earlier this year, was out of the office and unavailable for comment.

The controversy has boiled for years and enveloped schools, politics, law enforcement, and city and county leadership. Even before the deputies were ousted last year, Underwood, the sheriff, said he wanted more deputies for school safety. In 2013, schools officials and Underwood asked to put deputies on each Chester campus, but county leaders rejected the plan as too expensive.

When deputies were dropped last year, county officials agreed with Underwood’s request to find the money to keep the four deputies on staff who had been resource officers, who were then reassigned to other duties. The sheriff’s office believes that officers at each of the six middle and high schools are the safest option for students and staff, said Robert Sprouse, chief deputy.

After the schools dropped deputies last year, the districtwent to Chester city leaders asking to enlarge its boundaries for city police to be able to work games, but county leaders rejected the plan. The school district’s guards are from a private company, but are supervised and directed by former Chester police chief Andre Williams, who is running for sheriff against Underwood in the June Democratic primary.

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Chester supervisor: Schools seek to bring back deputies as school resource officers."