S.C. School District Considers Changing Security Contract

Three restructuring plans are being considered by the district’s school board committee.

A school district in South Carolina may restructure its contract with the local police departments after officials realized doing so could save almost half a million dollars annually.

The school board committee for Anderson School District 5 considered three options for the restructuring at a meeting May 12, according to independentmail.com.

The district currently pays $1 million a year to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, the Anderson Police Department and private security firm Defender Services. The sheriff’s office provides the district nine deputies for $67,228 a year, the city police provide five officers for $49,058 and the security firm provides seven security officers for $27,750.

One of the options board members are considering would give five police nine-month contracts to work at each of the district’s middle schools while a floating police officer worked at the elementary schools.

That plan, which officials estimate would save $350,000 a year, would also station a private security officer at each elementary school.

None of the options being considered would take police officers away from the two high schools in the district.

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The negotiations with the departments began after the district surveyed other schools in the state in November.

A key point of disagreement is the 12 month pay period the district currently uses in its contract. District officials say a nine or ten month contract would make more sense because schools are typically closed in the summer months.

The district has nine elementary schools, four middle schools and two high schools as well as alternative schools.

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