CCSD could get up to 30 police officers for middle schools

The Clark County School District Police Department hopes to hire up to 30 officers to assign to middle school campuses.

School Board trustees voted 6-0 on Thursday to authorize a grant application for the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services hiring program. Trustee Lisa Guzman was absent.

It comes as the school district has taken other recent steps to address school violence, including emergency security measures at high schools, including additional perimeter fencing, a single point of entry and upgraded security cameras.

“Having CCSDPD officers assigned to middle schools will enhance school safety and provide visibility on campuses with the goal of ‘prevention through presence’ and the development of positive and healthy relationships between students and law enforcement,” according to meeting materials posted online.

If the program moves forward, it’s unclear when officers would begin their assignments at middle schools or which campuses would be affected.

Each high school currently has two officers assigned to it. No officers are assigned to elementary or middle schools, but patrol officers can respond to them.

School police declined to comment on the proposal until after Thursday’s board meeting.

An application for federal funding was already submitted in order to meet a deadline, according to online meeting materials. If the agenda item isn’t approved, the application will be withdrawn.

The item was on the board’s consent agenda — multiple items considered routine business that were approved in one batch vote without discussion.

Federal money would partially pay for up to 30 entry-level, full-time police officers for three years. After the grant ends, the school district would be required to continue each officer’s employment for at least one year.

The program would cost about $3.75 million, with a potential impact to the school district’s general fund of nearly $3.5 million, according to meeting materials.

Darryl Wyatt, principal at Bailey Middle School in Las Vegas, told the Review-Journal last week he hoped the agenda item would be approved.

He said his campus has issues that require police assistance on a “pretty regular basis” — two or three times a week and sometimes even more frequently.

That includes responding to active situations such as a fight in progress or taking a police report for something that previously happened, he said.

Currently, the school calls police dispatch when assistance is needed, Wyatt said.

He also said he has a cellphone number for a sergeant in the area and that when situations arise, that official is able to dispatch someone more quickly.

Having a police officer on campus would allow for a faster response time and help deter some situations, Wyatt said.

Things have changed since students returned to campus for in-person classes following a year of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. Wyatt noted that there’s “just more aggression and hostility.”

And it’s not just students, he said, adding that some parents try to go to classrooms when they shouldn’t, and seek to bypass policies and procedures.

He said he expects it could be a long process, though, before officers actually arrive on middle school campuses, since the hiring process and training would take many months.

The sooner officers are assigned to middle school campuses, Wyatt said, the better.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.