Schools

Iowa City School Board Turns Down Offer of Armed Officers in Schools. For Now

School board members cited a need for more information and worries about future funding of the officers as reasons for putting decision on hold.


The Iowa City School Board wanted a few more answers before joining up with the Iowa City Police Department to bring armed community resource officers into its schools.

At its Tuesday night meeting, the board voted unanimously to not pursue a federal grant that would have partially funded the addition of two community resource officers dedicated to the school district, positions that would have been similar to the officer already in place in the Iowa City Downtown District. This despite the fact that the Iowa City City Council voted last week to approve the application for the grant.

Their reason: remaining questions about the nature of the positions, especially on how to pay for them after the grants expired.

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Board drops plan for armed officers (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Although the officers would be employed by the city, the school district would be expected to to pay the portions of salaries not covered by the grant — about $400,000 over four years.

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School Board members said Tuesday that price is too high, especially considering uncertain state education funding.

“That’s a number of teachers we could be using instead, and that’s more important to us,” School Board president Marla Swesey said.

Several opponents of the idea from the public also spoke up at the meeting, citing concerns about safety and the relationship between the city's youth and the local police force.

See Also: Ten Reasons Not to Put Armed Police in Iowa City Schools (Blog)

Ultimately, it was this lack of public support added to a shortened time window to make the decision led Superintendent Steve Murley and the school board to balk at the proposal.

Iowa City Schools Won't Apply for Federal Grant (The Gazette)

“We’ve got significant concerns about that cost component. … We do not have the funding available to participate in that grant,” Murley said.

School board member Patti Fields said she did not think it was a good idea to create a program to go after funding.

Having police officers in schools “is a philosophy we’ve got to embrace first before we chase money,” she said.


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