<p>More police officers are coming to Johnson County schools.</p>
<p>Center Grove and Edinburgh schools are using state grant money to add police officers on their campuses. Greenwood and Indian Creek schools will use the money to pay the salaries of existing officers.</p>
<p>The officers are being paid for with money from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security that has been awarded to schools across the state. Overall, Johnson County schools, including the Central Nine Career Center, collected more than $300,000 from the grants, which require a 100 percent match from the school districts.</p>
<p>Edinburgh schools will use the grant to help pay for its first school resource officer, with help from the town of Edinburgh, which will help cover the matching portion. Having a school resource officer will help the school district improve response times in case of an emergency, Superintendent Doug Arnold said.</p>
<p>“The town very quickly said it would address the issue of a match. Ultimately, having the SRO will benefit the town and school corporation. It benefits the town because it ensures the safety of the children in the town when in school,” Arnold said.</p>
<p>“With an officer in place it’s much more likely children will be safe.”</p>
<p>For the second straight year, Indian Creek schools will use the school safety grant to fund school resource officers. The district began using those officers on a rotating basis in January, with one officer present at all times, assistant superintendent Andy Cline said.</p>
<p>This year Indian Creek schools applied for an $88,372 grant, wanting to use the rest of the money for security cameras, but with the level of demand from school districts across the state, the department of homeland security only funded each district’s first priority, a $20,000 grant for school resource officer pay, he said.</p>
<p>The same situation occurred at Greenwood Community Schools, where administrators applied for a $49,267 grant to fund both the school resource officers and a $4,000 membership fee for a mobile application that allows the user to press a button that instantly alerts police and first responders in emergency situations, DeKoninck said.</p>
<p>Greenwood schools is getting $45,267 to pay the salary of existing school resource officers, but no money for the app. The school has either one or two school resource officers on campus each day, he said.</p>
<p>“We rely on that money to fund that service. This probably has been the fourth or fifth year we’ve gotten the grant,” DeKoninck said.</p>
<p>“With the climate of school safety thank goodness legislators push to fund this.”</p>
<p>Center Grove Community Schools will use its grant to add an additional officer to its department, which currently has five. The state awarded the district $73,275. With the money combined with the district’s match of the grant, Center Grove can provide a uniform, equipment, training, a salary, benefits and a vehicle for the officer, said Bill Long, assistant superintendent of operations.</p>
<p>Any remaining money will go to the following year’s budget to prepare for if the district doesn’t get another grant. Center Grove officers get paid between $33,856 and $47,124.</p>
<p>“Part of the reason we’re asking for a referendum is to (add officers) one at a time takes a very long time,” Long said. “We’ll use this towards an officer and then hopefully the referendum passes. If not, we’ll keep applying. Our objective is to have at least one officer in every building.”</p>
<p>Center Grove has nine school buildings.</p>
<p>Clark-Pleasant got a $49,969 grant award, which it will also use to pay for school resource officers, spokesperson John Venter said in an email.</p>
<p>Information from Central Nine Career Center and Franklin Community Schools was not available.</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="By the numbers" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>The Indiana Department of Homeland Security awarded school safety grants to all six Johnson County school districts and Central Nine Career Center</p>
<p>Center Grove;$73,275</p>
<p>Central Nine Career Center;$24,994</p>
<p>Clark-Pleasant;$49,969</p>
<p>Edinburgh;$25,000</p>
<p>Franklin;$77,446</p>
<p>Greenwood;$45,267</p>
<p>Indian Creek;$20,000</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
