One question that has come up, in the wake of the school shooting in Waynesboro on Wednesday, is, how many school resource officers are assigned to Waynesboro Public Schools?
The answer: two, with a third about to start training, per a spokesperson with the Waynesboro Police Department.
So, that’s two, for the city’s six schools – four elementary schools, the middle school and the high school.
Staunton also has two SROs to cover the five schools in the Staunton city school system – three elementary schools, the middle school and the high school.
The Augusta County Sheriff’s Office has 11 SROs for the county’s 19 K-12 schools – nine elementary schools, five middle schools, five high schools – plus the Valley Academy Regional Alternative School and The Shenandoah Valley Center for Advanced Learning.
Only one of the county SROs is assigned to a single school; the rest cover two or more.
I’m sensing that there might be support from the local population to increase those numbers so that we can have an SRO assigned to each school going forward.
These things, as is the case with everything in life, come at a cost.
The cost in Waynesboro: our PD is offering a starting base salary of $52,682 per year, with a $3,000 signing bonus, and an additional $6,000 bonus for officers who already have Virginia certification.
Three more SROs would cost the city in the range of $160,000 a year.
Staunton offers $51,589 as the starting salary for non-certified applicants.
The cost to add three more SROs in Staunton comes a smidge lower, closer to $155,000 a year.
The Augusta County Sheriff’s Office lists SRO and deputy sheriff positions at $53,809-$59,190 depending on qualifications.
Adding 11 more SROs would run in the $600,000 range per year.
This amount of money seems like something we can all get behind.
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Chris Graham
