ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – The Kane County Sheriff’s Office has reached three-year agreements with Kaneland District 302 and Burlington District 301 to share the cost of having a full-time school resource officer in their high schools during the school year, Sheriff Ron Hain announced in a news release.
The agreements will proceed through Kane County Board committees for approval, with the full vote anticipated at the Sept. 10 County Board meeting. The contracts will be in effect until September 2022.
In 2016, an unpopular agreement was reached under the previous sheriff, Donald Kramer, causing the schools to pay the full cost of the deputies’ salaries, instead of sharing the cost as before, Hain said.
“This is what is comparable to what local municipalities do, charge 50% to officers’ salaries,” Hain said, referring to local police departments that provide resource officers to districts. “The last contract under Kramer was publicly unpopular.”
Hain said when school districts have to pay the entire deputy’s salary, “it comes from the education fund.” He also included traffic control in the new agreement for two high-traffic intersections that are heavily affected before and after school.
Sheriff’s personnel now will provide daily support during the morning rush at Dauberman and Keslinger roads near Kaneland High School and after school at Route 47 and Rohrsen Road, for Burlington High School, because of construction in the area.
The school districts agreed to reimburse deputies who perform the service $37.50 an hour for an hour or two a day.
Hain said the area at Dauberman and Keslinger roads has had seven accidents in the past year, because of high traffic volume for a half hour to 45 minutes a day when students are traveling to school.
“It does not warrant a traffic control device, so we built it into the contract for additional safety for our kids. It’s an important measure,” Hain said.
Hain credited achieving the agreements because of great working relationships with Kaneland Superintendent Todd Leden and Burlington Superintendent Todd Stirn.
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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