MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) – Madison County Schools is getting four new school resource officers starting next week.
Madison County Superintendent David Gilliam says that the school system has had a school resource officer program for years, but it has been focused in city schools, using local police departments. However, recent legislation requiring all Kentucky schools to have a dedicated school resource officer required them to enter into a new partnership to cover schools out in the county.
“As we looked out into our county region with the four elementaries that are outside the city limits, we wanted to make sure that we had those covered,” Gilliam said.
So, the district reached out to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.
Now, they have four current and retired deputies who will step in to oversee students at Kirksville Elementary, Waco Elementary, Kingston Elementary, and Boonesboro Elementary.
Gilliam says he’s grateful to the sheriff’s office for finding deputies ready and willing to fill those roles.
“We were fortunate in that. I’m not sure that other districts across the state will have that same luck just simply because of the supply of police officers and it’s important for our community to really support our law enforcement right now,” Gilliam said.
Gilliam is also hoping for more support from lawmakers to pay those law enforcement officers.
“At this point, we don’t have any state funds that are specifically targeting that yet,” said Gilliam. “We’re hopeful as a school district that the state legislature will assist us with funding for School Resource Officers and funding the legislation that they passed, but we went ahead and took a leap of faith I suppose.”
The deputies we spoke with told us they are looking forward to interacting with the students and being positive role models.
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