In a sometimes-tense meeting Thursday afternoon, the Fayetteville City Council voted to work out a draft agreement with Cumberland County Schools to provide school resource officers in city public schools — but some council members indicated they still had lingering concerns.
The decision came a little over a month after Cumberland County Sheriff Ennis Wright abruptly announced his office would no longer provide school resource officers (SROs) or traffic control officers to public schools within the municipalities of Hope Mills, Spring Lake and Fayetteville. Wright attributed the change to staffing shortages, though his office has not responded to requests for comment from CityView with specific questions on the issue.
In a brief presentation to council members, City Manager Doug Hewett said the change will impact 49 schools in Fayetteville, representing 58% of physical schools in Cumberland County.
According to Hewett, the council had chosen to wait to take action until receiving a formal request from Cumberland County Schools, which the school system made June 19. School officials met with Hewett, Mayor Mitch Colvin and Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Keefe Jensen the next day to discuss the request, he said.
Hewett’s presentation showed providing SROs and traffic control officers to the school system would cost the city $4,906,002. The costs break down as follows:
- $3,230,165 for 28 SROs covering nine high schools, 10 middle schools and 30 elementary schools
- $300,992 for two sergeants
- $159,870 for one lieutenant
- $77,529 for an office administrator
- $1,137,447 for 66 traffic control officers
Hewett noted Fayetteville Police Department officers will still be expected to respond to 911 calls from schools within city limits regardless of whether the city funds SRO and traffic control officer positions. Three of Fayetteville’s public schools — Reid Ross Classical School, Anne Chesnutt Middle School and E.E. Miller Elementary School — are year-round schools with classes beginning July 15, he said.
School officials said Wright promised to provide coverage for year-round schools until alternate coverage could be determined.
Traffic control officers are currently paid for by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, according to Associate Superintendent of Business Operations Jay Toland.
Fayetteville Police Department Chief Kemberle Braden warned council members his department would not be able to immediately fill all SRO or traffic control officer positions.
“We are still facing staffing issues across our board,” he said. “We’re still running augmentation shifts across our patrol to cover evening hours.”
Braden said he believed SROs were an important extension of the community policing model, but expressed concerns about adequate staffing, especially with the less-than-two-month deadline before traditional schools begin classes Aug. 26.
“I would say my greatest concern right now is that traffic control officer position,” Braden said. “Come the start of the school year Aug. 26, as of right now, there’s no plan at any level, through any entity or organization, to have traffic control officers for our kids to cross the streets.”
The hiring process would need to begin immediately in order to have as many officers as possible in schools by the start of the school year, he said.
Cumberland County Board of Education Member Greg West reassured council members the city would be reimbursed by the school system for any costs for SROs.
West said Hewett’s estimates were for full staffing of SROs and traffic control officers. The school system has not staffed a full complement of SROs for some time, he said, noting the school system budgets $3.6 million for SROs and only spent $2.4 million this school year for the positions.
While the school system put out a request for proposals for unarmed private security guards without arrest authority, West said he didn’t believe that was an acceptable solution.
“I just don’t think the public is going to accept private security as any kind of permanent solution,” he said.
When Council Member Derrick Thompson inquired if the Fayetteville Police Department would be able to send officers for coverage if a school’s traffic control officers did not show up, Braden said they did not currently have the capacity to do so.
“I don’t have the personnel to put traffic control into all the schools,” Braden said.
If the city ultimately chose not to provide SROs, the school system would likely resort to private unarmed guards and would need to call 911 should anything illegal occur on school grounds, Associate Superintendent of Auxiliary Services Kevin Coleman said.
Council Member Mario Benavente pushed back on the concept of SROs in Fayetteville’s public schools, arguing that police presence in the school system would increase the likelihood of underprivileged students becoming involved in the justice system.
“When I talk with parents in the high schools that are in my area, they are concerned about the injustices that they experience with the law enforcement in our schools,” Benavente said. “Let’s not get so excited, titillated, by the potential that we could get more arrests in our schools.”
In response to Benavente’s comments, Board of Education Member Donna Vann said SROs were necessary to keep students and staff safe in schools.
“Teachers are not trained to be law enforcement,” she said.
Tentative timeline
Should the school system reach a deal with the city to pay for SROs, Braden estimated he could have an SRO in every high school by Jan. 1 and SROs assigned to all middle schools and elementary schools by the start of the 2025-2026 school year.
“It’s my opinion that I could probably get five to six officers within those nine high schools almost immediately,” he said. “My implementation process would take place over an entire school year, starting with the most-needed high schools, to all high schools by January, and then middle schools and elementary schools hopefully by the start of the school year 2025.”
Thompson urged his colleagues to work toward a quick solution.
“What I don’t want to see is for us to have an issue at one of our schools and we don’t have somebody armed there to be that first responder,” Thompson said. “That would be mud on our face for years. That’s something to think about.”
Some council members expressed doubts, however, with Council Member Deno Hondros noting his frustration at the late notice from the sheriff.
“I believe the sheriff let down the county, the community and the most vulnerable among us our children, as an elected public servant he will be judged by the voters for that,” Hondros said in a written statement provided to CityView Thursday. “Is six weeks enough time to create, hire, train, come up with a plan, and then implement the plan? Time will ultimately tell.”
Benavente said he believed the city was taking over what should be a county responsibility.
“I don’t want to hear any more complaints from anybody that ‘that’s a county responsibility,’” he said. “There’s no world where we talk about the county’s responsibility or the county’s money anymore, because clearly, we’re willing to spend whatever it takes.”
The council ultimately voted 9-1, with Benavente in opposition, to direct city staff to create a draft memorandum of understanding for SROs with school officials. It was unclear when that draft would be presented to council members, who will not have any meetings in July as part of a regularly scheduled summer break.
Reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at lsolomon@cityviewnc.com or 910-423-6500.
This story was made possible by contributions to CityView News Fund, a 501c3 charitable organization committed to an informed democracy.
