CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio — At the August 16 Chagrin Falls School board meeting, Chagrin Falls Schools Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Penczarski laid out her plan to add school safety officers at Gurney Elementary School and the Intermediate School. Currently, Chagrin Falls Police Officer Mike Baldwin is a school resource officer at Chagrin Falls High School,
At the moment, the school district is in the planning stages with the Chagrin Falls Police Department (the Intermediate School) and the Village of South Russell (Gurney Elementary) to provide full-time police officers at both campuses. Both police departments would hire and train the school safety officers, while the school district would pay the officers and be responsible for providing their benefits.
During the next couple of months, the school board and respective police departments will draft a detailed agreement defining the scope and responsibilities of the school safety officer. Once the Chagrin Falls Board of Education and both village councils sanction the agreement and the new police positions, the police departments will start the hiring and training process.
During the school board meeting, Dr. Penczarski discussed other security options for Gurney Elementary and the intermediate School. The superintendent stated the school security officer would be more of an economical option than the school resource officer at both schools, because the school district has to provide police equipment and a patrol car for a school resource officer. Pencazrski believed that a part-time school security officer position would be less than optimal due to the fact that the position would not offer benefits or healthcare for that particular option.
While the school board considers permanent security options for Gurney Elementary and the Intermediate School, detailed police officers will offer security coverage for both schools.