SIDNEY — A School Resource Officer (SRO) will be returning to the classrooms at Sidney High School.
During Monday night’s Sidney City Schools Board of Education meeting, a contract was approved with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office for the SRO services for the 2015-16 school year for a cost up to $40,000. Anthony Cipollone will be the SRO for the high school.
The district had previously had a SRO in the high school through the Sidney Police Department. When the district decided to have school security officers in each building of the district, the SRO was discontinued, said Mike Watkins, district treasurer. This is the third year for school security officers in each building.
“The sheriff can apply for an SRO grant,” said Watkins. “The SRO at the high school would be a full time employee of the Sheriff’s Office.”
The salary for the SRO will be $49,865 a year, said Watkins. This will be split between the Sheriff’s Office and the school. During the summer, the SRO will work for the sheriff. The nine-months of the school year Cipollone will work for the school district.
The school district, said Watkins, will be responsible for $37,398 of the SRO’s salary. The Sheriff’s Office will pay $12,466 of his salary.
“The sheriff will pay his salary and benefits and bill the district for their share,” said Watkins.
The $49,865 is the salary for a first year deputy, said Watkins.
“The SRO will have an education portion to his job,” said Watkins. “He will take education classes through the Sheriff’s Office and be in the classroom more.”
“The SRO has additional training which makes him more than just a school security officer,” said Superintendent John Scheu.
Scheu said the SRO will remain part of the first responder team in a school emergency.
“He’s involved in our school safety plan,” said SHS Principal John Geuy. “He’ll be involved in our after hour training. In education, he’ll be able to step into the classroom. He’ll go into classes like government and help at extra-curricular activities.”
Geuy said district employees will be attending a seminar in Columbus about school safety. A man who studied the school takeover in Russia, where hundreds of children were killed, will be the guest speaker.
“There will be things as a SRO he will be required to go to,” said Geuy. “We’ll be able to use him more in the classroom as a guest speaker in the government, business, RCI and workforce classes.”
Scheu said the Sheriff’s Office uses an SRO grant to have a person in the county schools.
“Our most response and greatest coverage area is the high school,” said Scheu. “We’ve had three to four different security officers since the police department’s SRO left. We hope to keep someone qualified, who wants to stay for several years. With better pay and better benefits, this can happen.”
Board member Bob Smith asked that at the end of the school year the board receive a report on what the SRO did during the year.
Supplemental one-year contracts were approved for various athletic coaches. Receiving contracts were Andy Slaughter, heads boys basketball, $7.734; James Kidd, junior varsity boys basketball, $3,164; Jordan Ruppert, freshman/varsity boys assistant basketball, $1,758; Chet Brewster,freshman/varsity boys assistant basketball at 50 percent, $879; Jeremy Keaton, freshman/varsity boys assistant basketball at 50 percent, $879; Nish Golden, eighth-grade boys basketball, $3,322; and Michael Ward, seventh-grade boys basketball, $2,461.
Coaches also receiving contracts were Megan Mummey, head girls basketball, $6,328; Stacey Goffena, junior varsity girls basketball, $2,812; Danielle McQuillen, freshman/varsity girls assistant basketball, $1,758; Dave King, eighth-grade girls basketball, $3.322; Erica Sculley, seventh-grade girls basketball, $3,164; Mary Jannides, head swim, $3,691; Mark Miller, assistant swim, $3,164; Clayton Westerbeck, head wrestling, $7,734; Joe Spangler, assistant wrestling, $4,570; Phil Nickolai, freshman/varsity assistant wrestling, $2,461; Ryan Shurts, SMS wrestling, $1,758; Trent Knoop, head bowling, $1,758; and Dianne Murray, assistant blowing, $1,758.
In other business, the board:
• Accepted the resignation of Linda Richmond, Sidney Middle School cook, effective Sept. 2.
• Approved a voluntary unpaid medical leave of absence for Matthew Eaton, intervention specialist.
• Approved one-year limited contracts for Rachel Minniear, Laura Hughes and Betty Snider as cooks at $10.16 per hour. They are replacing open spots and these are not new positions, said Scheu.
• Approved one-year as-needed contracts for Tim Elmore, substitute custodian, $12.72 per hour; and Amy Schroeder, substitute aide, $10.61 per hour, and substitute cook, $9.14 per hour.
• Approved one-year limited, as-needed contracts for supplemental athletic event staff to work events per OHSAA guidelines.
• Employed Angie Slaughter as a MD aide effective Sept. 14 at $13.79 er hour. She was employed as a substitute aide, said Scheu, but the need was there for a full time aide at Northwood School.
• Approved a motion to appoint Dennis Klenowski, Anthony Moeder, Jayne Evans and Stacey Lefeld as district representatives for ETR/IEP meetings.
The board’s next meeting will be a work session on Monday, Oct. 5, at 6 p.m. at the board of education office.
