Columbia City Council offers delay in school resource officer contract

The city government and public school district may get more time to negotiate a contract for police officers to work in the schools.

Mayor Brian Treece introduced a bill that would extend the end of the contract between the city and Columbia Public Schools by one month to Nov. 1. The current agreement, which provides four police officers to work at some of the schools, will end Oct. 1.

Agenda items must be introduced at a meeting before the council can vote on it. The council will decide on the extension at its meeting Sept. 16.

Both the city and the schools split the cost of salaries for four Columbia police officers to work in the schools during the school year and one month of summer school. Each side pays $180,295 for the four officers’ salaries.

City leaders brought up issues they had with the current agreement during budget talks this summer. Police Chief Geoff Jones said officers were spending about 80 percent of their time at the schools, despite CPS paying just 50 percent of their salaries. The city council sent a letter to the board of education in July asking the district also considering integrating officers deeper into the school curriculum, rather than use them solely for security purposes.

Treece said the extension allows the school district to decide what course it wants to take in regards to school security.

“I want to avoid the city pulling out our school resource officers, but in order to do that, I need to have this under introduction and first reading,” Treece said.

Both Jones and CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said the two sides were still negotiating a new contract.