Home Discovery Bay & Byron Discovery Bay School Resource Officer Safe for One More Year

Discovery Bay School Resource Officer Safe for One More Year

by ECT

Discovery Bay Elementary School

Discovery Bay residents received good news Monday night as the P-6 Committee decided to fully fund the $180k per year School Resources Officer (SRO) position for another year at Discovery Bay Elementary School.

According to Committee members I spoke with, this appears to be the last year they dip into funding for the position.

It should be noted that over the past three-years, the P-6 has funded nearly 90% of the School Resource Officer position costs. In the past, it was a shared effort between the P-6, Board of Supervisors, Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, and the School District, but money had run dry.

With stakeholders out of money to contribute to funding the position, the P-6 stepped up in order to give the School District a one year time period to raise funds and find a way to ensure the position becomes self-sustaining.

According to Bob Mankin, a P-6 committee member, they are dipping into reserve funds to pay for the position.

“The committee sees the value of the position but no one has come forward with significant efforts to help us with funding. There just isn’t any extra money out there. The sense I got from fellow committee members last night [Monday] is we all recognize this will be the final year we can do this. It is cutting too deeply into our reserves. But that is only observation, not a statement of policy or consensus,” said Mankin.

When asked why the P-6 did not seek any sort of duel funding agreement form the School District prior to approval, Mankin explained they were left with an “eleventh-hour” decision.

“School District representatives were non-committal throughout the year when queried at P-6 meetings about their ability to assist with funding. We were left with an eleventh hour decision and no available funding assistance from the district,” said Mankin.

Lieutenant Alan Johnson with the Office of the Sherriff was more than happy with the decision to continue the School Resources Officer position for an additional year.

“The Discovery Bay Community, and more specifically the children, will benefit greatly from the leadership shown by the P-6 Committee in funding the School Resource Officer position for another year.  In light of the recent tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, the continued presence of School Resource Officer David Allain on local campuses will maintain a higher level of safety for the children and provide peace of mind for parents,” explained Lt. Johnson.

Spaghetti Fundraiser Set For Saturday… but Parcel Tax Needed

On Saturday April 20, the Discovery Bay Sports Bar will be hosting a fundraiser to raise funds for the School Resources Officer and the SEED Foundation.  Tickets are set at $25 per plate.

While I support these types of fundraisers which highlight community spirit, they are only effective for so long. Soon burnout will occur and wallets will run dry if you are trying to raise $180,000 over a year’s time from a select group of folks.

With the $500 recently donated by the Lions Club and maybe somewhere between $3,000 to $5,000 coming in from Saturday’s event, they are still miles away from the finish line.

At this point, people would be throwing their money away.

Instead, its time to change direction with a years time to plan. The School Board and its supporters need to get serious about a long-term solution instead of this knee jerk reaction to fund-raise. It’s time to focus on starting the process to begin moving towards a parcel tax to fund the School Resources Officer Program.

If the School Board is unsuccessful with grants, a parcel tax is a nice backup plan. That would ensure the position becomes self-sustainable and you relieve the P-6 Committee, the School Board and the County from funding a position that Discovery Bay parents desperately want.

If Discovery Bay truly wants to continue the services as a whole from the sheriffs office, put it to a vote and see just how important it is to the entire community.

With the amount of parcels in the Town of Discovery Bay, a proposed $30-40 annual tax would likely get it done.

While Monday was a small victory, the battle is not over as this will come up against next year without some serious changes in approach to finding funding.  The hand out from P6 appears to be over.

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4 comments

Don Flunk Apr 17, 2013 - 8:27 am

With the exception of Mark McBride, this is a case of a school board asleep at the wheel. It should never have come down to an eleventh hour decision. Stop with the political games and do something productive instead of relying on a hand out

Dee Mac Apr 20, 2013 - 10:09 pm

I completely agree with you. if It’s so important to the parents at the school to have a resource officer why haven’t they bucked up for funding? Why are a few neighborhoods paying for the enhanced police service the entire community takes advantage of? This is year three and nothing has changed, every year its the same thing. Our taxes pay to put the kids through school anyhow and then they expect additional funding via P6 funds routinely for SRO benefits. I like the additional police presence in the area but come on! You have ALL YEAR LONG to figure out how to pay for it and do nothing, repeatedly. With the Sandy Hook ordeal and new funding possible from other sources being bandied about at the federal level maybe something will give for them in regard to grants. Not that I think federal involvement in our schools is good! Hopefully someone gets their act together over there in the next 9 months. I for one am tired of footing the bill for everyone else.

Brentwood Mom Apr 17, 2013 - 8:31 am

I have a question on funding. Since this is from P6, I would assume the county is not funding the position which means other cities are no longer funding a school resource officer at a single school? If this was the case, shouldn’t all schools been funded by the county?

Dee Mac Apr 20, 2013 - 10:23 pm

The Sheriff states they have not the resources to provide for an SRO at all schools, and cannot play favorites, I.E. participate in funding of any positions. They cry broke like everyone else. Although the county wastes its funds at the end of the year like all other agencies to insure getting more the following year. Just take a look at the county corp yard and the multitude of unneeded radio replacements and repairs made just to burn the tax payer dollars annually. Why did we need to change the placarding of our police cars if we can’t afford SRO funding? Anyone? Anyone? That’s no cheap project. The only places that get an SRO are the ones that pay extra for it themselves. In my opinion we already pay for police services and should have one at county expense only where ever we need one. But hey who am I just the Tax Payer…

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