Kane sheriff sticks with decision to pull police from schools

At least one Kane County school will open its doors to students without the protection of a police officer in two weeks.

That reality will come as Kane County Sheriff Don Kramer rejected another round of pleas by Burlington and Kaneland school officials as well as the county board Tuesday.

Full-time officers at the schools are the only way to ensure the safety of students, said Kaneland High School Assistant Principal Diane McFarlin.

"This is not a would-be-nice position to have," she said. "This is important. This is life and death. This (situation) is irresponsible, and it's dangerous. Fix this. Do the right thing."

County board Chairman Chris Lauzen said the board has already done everything it can to keep full-time officers at the schools. He pointed to a $4 million increase in Kramer's budget in the past three years.

"We've put money behind that support," Lauzen said. "Lots of money. The ways and means of getting that job done are in place. The decision is in the hands of the person you elected. It is in the hands of the sheriff."

County board member Drew Frasz then called on the sheriff, with Kramer in the audience, to reinstate the school resource officers on day one of the school year.

"In two weeks, hundreds of kids will be showing up to school," Frasz said. "I would ask that you have them protected."

After the meeting, Kramer said, "It's not going to happen."

He explained the $4 million Lauzen referenced has nothing to do with his decision. Eighteen staff vacancies burned a critical hole in his office's ability to keep the county safe for all its residents, not just the schools. Kramer said he had no choice but to shift the school resource officers to regular patrol duty.

He is hiring and training three or four new deputies. But they won't be ready for at least three months.

"There's nobody that cares more about kids than I do," Kramer said. "But I have to do what's right for the 532,000 citizens of Kane County."

There is the potential for the Burlington and Kaneland schools to share one officer part-time. In that scenario, one school would get the officer for three days of the week. The other school would get the officer two days.

The following week the officer would flip which school gets the three days versus the two days.

Kramer said the officer would vary which days of the week to work out the split so students would never be able to predict when an officer would or wouldn't be on the premises. Patrol officers could also stop into the schools for short periods of time.

But even that part-time agreement is in limbo. The school districts have yet to sign the school resource officer contract, Kramer said.

That contract, which has been on the table for a year, details pay, work shifts, insurance and legal liabilities. Kramer said his version of the contract is about five pages. The schools' version is about 14 pages. Kramer wants the contract signed before the start of school so the part-time agreement can be in place for the first classes.

Winter break will mean the start of a new budget year for the county and, possibly, the end of training for a new crop of officers. Kramer said he hopes full-time officers will return to the schools at that time.