Columbia’s City Council is set to vote on an agreement that would put five more police officers inside Columbia Public Schools — bringing the district’s total to nine SROs, covering both the regular school year and summer sessions.
Under the proposal, Hickman High School would get two officers, Rock Bridge High School one, and Battle High School two. The goal, according to CPS Safety and Security Director Kenneth Gregory, is two full-time officers on every high school campus. Gregory told ABC 17 News that “the relationships that they build with the kids…is unbelievable,” on top of the safety piece. District officials have been asking for more officers for some time.
Money-wise, Columbia Public Schools would reimburse the city for 75% of each officer’s salary and benefits, so the cost is shared rather than carried by either side alone.
Not everyone’s convinced more officers is automatically the right call — the same tension playing out in districts around the country. Noelle Gilzow, president of the local Columbia Missouri National Education Association chapter, told ABC 17 the experience varies a lot building to building: “In some schools, we see SROs who are working really hard to build positive relationships with students. In other schools, there have been less positive interactions.” How a program like this lands often comes down to the individual officer and the culture of the specific school, not the policy on paper.
On the school board side, only member Betsy Peters had publicly weighed in as of the ABC 17 report, and she’s in favor.
No firm council vote date had been announced as of this writing. Worth watching if you’ve got kids at Hickman, Rock Bridge, or Battle — this changes who’s walking those halls as soon as it’s approved.
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