Kane County high schools want their resource officers back
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article should have read Burlington Central and Kaneland are among only three high schools in unincorporated areas of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties — Glenbard South near Glen Ellyn is served by the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office with a full-time resource officer during the school year.
Suburban educators say police officers in schools play an essential role in maintaining student discipline. And two Kane County school districts are fighting to keep a police presence at their high schools.
Administrators, parents and students from Burlington Central and Kaneland high schools are expected to pack Tuesday's Kane County Board meeting to demand full-time school resource officers be restored at both schools when the school year begins later this month.
Citing overall staffing shortages, the Kane County sheriff's office pulled one of its school resource officers, leaving one deputy to serve both schools at least until after the winter. If that happens, Burlington Central and Kaneland would be the only two high schools in DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties without a full-time school resource officer.
"Parents are very concerned and they are upset," said Todd Stirn, superintendent of Burlington Central Unit District 301. "They feel the message being sent to them is ... their children's lives are not as important as the lives of children at other schools in the county. Maybe that's not the intent of the message, but that's the message they are receiving."
During the 2015-16 school year, the officer assigned to Burlington Central made at least one felony arrest and handled more than 30 cases where students were prevented from being referred to juvenile court. The deputy also was involved in multiple investigations, involving drugs, alcohol, illegal prescription use, sex abuse, sexual assault, battery, assault, theft, and disorderly conduct.
Similarly, Kaneland's officer last year handled dozens of cases of insubordinate students, de-escalated arguments to avoid fights, investigated drug activities, and provided mental health support for students, and dealt with a host of other problems. The officer also helped save the life of a student who attempted suicide.
"Having a resource officer deters aggressive behavior," Stirn said. "Studies have shown they reduce the amount of time teachers have to spend on discipline in the classroom and behavioral disruptions in the school. Having a strong, positive police officer role model in your building helps build a good relationship and a healthy respect in young people for law enforcement officers. It's of vital importance."
Burlington Central and Kaneland are among only three high schools in unincorporated areas of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties - Glenbard South near Glen Ellyn is served by the DuPage County Sheriff's Office with a full-time resource officer during the school year. As such, they fall under the jurisdiction of the Kane County sheriff's office, which means they cannot get police officers from nearby municipalities to serve as school resource officers.
Other high schools fall within municipal boundaries and are served by resource officers from their respective police departments.
Kane County Sheriff Don Kramer shifted the two school resource officers back to regular patrol duty at the end of last school year, saying his office doesn't have enough manpower to police the county.
Kramer is seeking a $1.2 million increase for his 2017 budget. Keeping school resource officers in place would cost $112,000 in salaries.
Burlington Central and Kaneland pay 50 percent of the salary/benefits of the resource officers and are willing to continue doing so, officials said.
When the program started in the late 1990s, there were 96 deputies on staff. The sheriff's office was budgeted for 86 sworn officers in 2015.
Kramer has said he has an oral agreement with county board Chairman Chris Lauzen to go up to 88, if Kramer could pay for it out of his budget. The sheriff's office is authorized by ordinance to have up to 90 sworn officers. Kramer has requested two more deputies for next year.
Yet, the school resource officer staffing issue has nothing to do with the budget, sheriff's office spokesman Lt. Pat Gengler said. The problem is the office has 18 employees who are not available for patrol for reasons ranging from injuries to military obligations, he said.
"This past year, we had two deputies called to active duty in the military. We had two unexpected retirements. Right now, we have three deputies in training without a return-to-duty date. We have 11 people out on some sort of medical situation."
At any given time, six or seven deputies are patrolling the county, which runs from roughly the Huntley outlet mall to the Aurora outlet mall and includes about 100,000 people living in unincorporated areas.
"We just ran out of available people to put out in our squad cars for basic 9-1-1 response," Gengler said. "There are other people who were assigned to different duties who are out working patrol."
Once staffing levels are back up, the sheriff's office will restore full-time resource officers at both schools, he said.
Kaneland officials say without a resource officer in the building, it could take up to 25 minutes for a deputy to arrive for an emergency. Officials there are asking the county board to provide a special allocation of funds to support the resource officer program at both schools, and by ordinance require the sheriff to include resource officers in his annual budget and adjust staffing accordingly.
Lauzen said the county board cannot mandate the sheriff's office to do anything.
"This decision is 100 percent in the sheriff's area of authority," he said. "We could not pass a resolution saying, 'You have got to do this.'"
The Kane County Board meeting begins at 9:45 a.m. in the county board room of the Kane County Government Center, Bldg. A, 719 S Batavia Ave., Geneva. To address the county board, residents must complete a Request to Speak form available on the board website countyofkane.org.
• Daily Herald staff writer Susan Sarkauskas contributed to this report.