City of Dover and school partner to hire a school resource officer
Dover City Schools and the City of Dover are working together in efforts to secure a full-time member of the Dover Police Department to serve as a school resource officer for the district.
Dover City Schools and the City of Dover are working together in efforts to secure a full-time member of the Dover Police Department to serve as a school resource officer for the district. The SRO will serve students and staff at all buildings k-12 in a variety of proactive safety roles.
“As a community we all have a vested interest in the safety and security of our children. In Dover, our schools, city administration and police department have always had an excellent relationship, and we are proud to work together with the school district to deepen that and provide additional levels of support,” said Shane Gunnoe, interim mayor.
Gunnoe, along with members of the city’s first responder teams, serves on the Dover Schools Community Safety Task Force, which has been discussing the possibility of a full-time SRO for the district as one part of a continuously examined school safety plan.
Superintendent Karie McCrate said, “School safety is a multi-layered effort that takes input from a variety of stakeholders including our police, fire and EMT forces; our local mental health agencies; teachers and administrators; and parents and community members. We are thankful for those who engage in this process. At this time an SRO would be a valuable resource as part of the district’s layers of safety strategies.”
An SRO for Dover Schools would be involved at all schools, playing a key, consistent role in the district’s required threat assessment team and in proactively working to avoid safety and security threats within the schools. The officer would be part of the Dover Schools team, collaborating with staff members and assisting as needed in family or student situations.
The SRO would be a shared investment between the school and the city, and both the Dover City Council and the Dover City Schools Board of Education are expected to discuss and act on the position in the upcoming month.