……….Both Hancock County Sheriff Scott Gittings and Weirton Chief of Police Charles Kush are opposed to the cuts in Police Resource Officers (PR0) being implemented by Superintendent Walter Saunders. While Saunders characterized to me that he had spoken to both Gittings and Kush and they were working on a solution to make do with less PRO officers, both law enforcement heads made it very clear that they were against any cuts to the PRO officers.
………..Sheriff Gittings said Saunders’ plan would reduce two officers up north. New Manchester Elementary would share an officer with Oak Glen Middle and the officer at the JDRIV Career Center would be eliminated.
……..Chief Kush, who noted he only spoke to Saunders by phone, said Weirton schools would lose one officer. Weirton Elementary, the largest elementary school in the State, would share an officer with Weir Middle.
………. Students enter through a metal detector where a PRO officer is present. What happens when it’s the PRO officer’s day to be at the elementary school? Who deals with a gun or knife detected at the middle school. Teachers? Principals? Neither are trained or equipped to handle such a situation.
………..The Weirton Elementary is the largest elementary school in the State, but under Saunders’ plan they would share their PRO officer with Weir Middle School. Kush pointed out that there at the point where the student is going through the metal detector and leaving school, you could have a parent who has lost custody of that child trying to take the child. Domestic violence and restraining orders keeping a parent from a child can also surface.
……..”We have 2 levies in play here,” wrote Hancock Board President Chris Gillette in response to a question on Hometown News’ Facebook Page. “The Excess Levy has the $725,000.00 in it. The Safety Levy passed last year picks up all the equipment, glass protection and all of the other updates for each of the school buildings.”
……….It’s important that the Excess Levy funding be used for the purpose it was intended: A PRO officer in every school. By allocating only 75% of the $725,000.00 to PRO officers, Saunders is subverting the voters wishes and ignoring the safety of our children.
………..When voters cast their vote for the school excess levy it was with school safety in mind. Every ad, every promo stressed school safety and the excess levy section (i) $ 750,000.00 was promoted to ensure PRO officers were in each school.
……..Sheriff Gittings said he is writing letters to the State Board of Education, legislators, and the Governor and I’m sure the public will support his efforts.
………Decisions are being made without input from those who know school safety best. The cuts are simply numbers to those making the decisions from the State. It’s easy to slash numbers if you don’t know the community, the parents and the kids. But this isn’t a situation to be handled remotely. Who decides what school gets protection on what day? What if it’s the wrong day and the worst scenario occurs? Those are our kids and the voters in this county voted to make sure they were protected. We have an obligation to carry the letter of the law out with the levy and to listen to the men charged with protecting those children.
