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The Suffolk School Board and City Council will have a joint meeting tonight, Wednesday, April 9, at 5 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The agenda currently includes five items, including the SPS and City proposed budgets for the next fiscal year.

Elephant’s Fork Elementary School relocation, the joint use of public school recreational facilities, and a new residential development will also be discussed. 

Superintendent proposed budget

The first item on the agenda is the Superintendent’s proposed budget that was passed by the School Board during the March 27 meeting. The budget totals $244,554,074 and includes a request of over $82 million from the city — a $7 million increase from last year.

If granted, the city funding would go toward additional safety and security measures, increasing student achievement, and the overall increased cost of operations. 

The Superintendent is requesting an additional $7 million of city funding for 11 new elementary school resource officers and ZeroEyes security software. Together, these requests will cost $962,500.

ZeroEyes software is designed to detect possible firearms and alert local law enforcement and SROs. The software is designed to integrate into pre-existing security systems.

During the March 27 meeting, Superintendent Dr. John B. Gordon III said he plans to talk to the city about possibly applying for a grant to support the placement of SROs in schools.

“The city is going to determine how many school resource officers they will be able to support us with,” he said. “That would be an adjustment that they would make in their funding of the budget if they can’t support all 11 of the elementary SROs that we are requesting.”

Gordon explained that Police Chief James Buie originally said they could provide 11 officers, but they have had some vacancies since then that may not allow for that anymore.

Board Chair Heather Howell said during their last educational committee meeting that both the Mayor and City Manager expressed concerns about being able to pull 11 officers from the street to put them in schools as SROs.

Board Member Tyron Riddick said he believes there is “definitely a recipe to make something happen” and fulfill the 11 requested SROs between the police and sheriff’s department.

Board Member Dr. DawnMarie Brittingham, Ed. D. wanted to confirm if the Sheriff had been included in conversations about the SROs, and also felt confident the city could meet their request. 

Howell said she has spoken with the Sheriff, who explained that the court docket guides them and that they are often pulled randomly to provide transportation.

“We want an individual consistently in each of our elementary schools that’s forming a relationship and a bond with the student body, the faculty, and the staff,” Howell said. “So that was a concern. But as far as navigating this discussion, from my understanding it’s the responsibility of the Mayor and City Council to have those conversations with the Chief and with the Sheriff. They’ve received our input in multiple instances.”

Gordon said sheriff deputies are still in elementary schools when the court docket allows them, and that will continue. He added that if the city is not able to allot 11 SROs at this time, they will designate specific days on which deputies will be in the elementary schools and police officers will be in the remaining elementary schools.

“Worst case scenario … our sheriff’s deputies will still be in our schools,” he said. “We’re just trying to be able to provide additional support by having as many SROs as the Suffolk Police Department can spare when we start the 25/26 school year.”

During the City Council meeting on April 2, Director of Finance Charles Meek did comment on the SRO request, stating the city is proposing a phased approach to reach the requested 11 SROs. They will start with four next fiscal year.

He also said SPS will no longer be required to reimburse the city for SROs; the funding will now come from the police department budget.