School District Prioritizes Security with Personnel Changes

During its Aug. 21 business meeting, the school board signed off on two items designed to help meet the safety and security objectives in Kearney School District’s five-year strategic plan.

The Board approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Kearney to provide a School Resource Officer (SRO) for the district. District and city officials collaborated over several months to update the MOU, which dates back to 2014.

District Superintendent Emily Miller

The most important change to the MOU is that the District’s SRO will now be an employee of the city and report directly to the Kearney Police Department. District administration will have input on the selection process and work collaboratively with the Chief of Police and City Administrator regarding the SRO’s duties. Kearney School District will reimburse the city for the SRO’s time spent within the school district.

In addition, a motion to designate a district employee as a School Protection Officer (SPO), which is allowed under state law, was also approved by the board.

“It just gives the school district some flexibility to add additional safety and security personnel,” Superintendent Emily Miller said.

The SPO can perform functions similar to those of an SRO in schools. The only exception is the ability to make an arrest, which is reserved for law enforcement officers.

current KSD SRO Adam Kirkland

The plan is to have current KSD SRO Adam Kirkland become the district’s SPO, according to Director of Operations Erek Noland. KPD Ofc. Cameron Philip has been selected for the SRO position. It’s anticipated that he will start his new role in September.

Stakeholders identified increasing safety and security as a top priority in the district’s strategic plan. The administration made difficult budget decisions in order to find the resources to expand KSD’s safety and security team.

Dr. Miller assured the board that staff members, students and families won’t see a decrease in the level of service from the new SRO. In fact, the revised MOU combined with the addition of an SPO means that KSD will now have two trained safety and security professionals on-site.

Brian Watts contributed to this story.