City, School District to Continue to Evenly Split SRO Costs

School Resource Officer (SRO) positions within the Fond du
Lac School District will continue to be funded at current levels. That decision
comes after the School Resource Officer Advisory Committee met Monday and
agreed to continue the current funding model – which splits the cost of the SRO’s
50/50 between the Fond du Lac School District and the City of Fond du Lac for a
12 month period. Recent discussions included the possibility of the district
opting to pay for only nine of the 12 months of the year, since school is not in session
during the summer, even though SRO’s continue to work in the schools in the
summer. That led to concerns about losing an officer in the schools because of
the decreased funding. Currently, there are five School Resource Officers in
the district – two at Fond du Lac High School and one at each of the District’s
three middle schools. All officers have responsibilities at the elementary school
level as well.

In addition to maintaining the current funding model, the Advisory
Committee also agreed to assemble a sub-committee that will identify summer
opportunities where the SRO’s can assist the District and the City to help
continue to engage and connect the youth in the community. The sub-committee
will bring recommendations to the full committee in June, and agreed upon
activities will begin this summer.

The Police Department said in a statement “The partnership
between the City of Fond du Lac, the Police Department and the Fond du Lac
School District is strong. Safety in our schools and within the community is a
paramount issue, and we will continue to work together in a collaborative
fashion to ensure it.”