District 59 adds school resource officer to Grove Jr. High

Amid increased pressure from Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson over the last week, Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59 school board members voted unanimously Monday to add a school resource officer to Grove Junior High School.

The vote - originally scheduled for November - was moved up to Monday night after Johnson directed police to increase foot and squad car patrols outside Grove on Oct. 2.

But the mayor pulled the cops back the next day after a meeting with Superintendent Terri Bresnahan, who agreed to put the matter up for a vote on the school board's agenda.

Formally, the board's 7-0 vote Monday night directs Bresnahan to develop agreements with police departments in Elk Grove Village, Des Plaines and Mount Prospect - where District 59's junior high schools are located - that would return to the board for final review and a vote.

The board is scheduled to vote on an intergovernmental agreement with Elk Grove Oct. 23, and the officer is expected to be in place at Grove school Oct. 30.

TR Johnson, the mayor's son who was elected to the school board in April, called the vote to add cops to District 59 schools "better late than never." But he said it's only a first step; he believes the district also has to improve communication to solve more minor day-to-day disciplinary issues.

Board members spoke after a Grove eighth-grader told them Monday that she doesn't feel safe at school most of the time because of fighting and conflict among her peers.

"I don't want to ever have to have a student come up here again and tell us they don't feel safe in school because that's unacceptable to me, and we'll keep working til that's the case," TR Johnson said.

The elder Johnson has been pushing for an officer for months at Grove, which has experienced an uptick in calls to police. In August, he publicly accused Bresnahan and district officials of "dragging their feet," after the superintendent announced the formation of a task force to explore the possibility of cops in schools.

Johnson said the one-day addition of cops outside Grove on Oct. 2 was prompted by incidents there in recent weeks: a student who brandished a knife and threatened to stab another student, and at least two fights.

On Tuesday night, the Elk Grove Village board is expected to formalize its agreement with Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54, where an officer returned to Mead Junior High School this year.

As in District 54, District 59 would pay for nine months of the officer's salary and benefits, or about $128,000.

An Elk Grove police officer is also in place at Elk Grove High School, under an agreement with Northwest Suburban High School District 214.