LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) will update the school board on August 27 about its plan for school resource officers (SRO). 

The new Kentucky law, Senate Bill 1 (2019) requires SROs in schools. In July, JCPS brought the District's plan for an "internal" SRO force to the Board for discussion. 

The updated plan to be presented next week lays out not only the plans but timelines the District hopes to follow.  JCPS plans to hire a project manager to oversee the plan which would include not only hiring SROs but also develop policies and training.

Currently, there are nine school security officer positions and seven of those are filled. They patrol schools in specific areas of the county and provide support to schools as-needed. Each of the SSOs has a daily "beat" of schools and they provide support to schools on security issues.  They are also dispatched to schools for non-emergency security and law enforcement issues. SSOs also monitor building security measures as laid out by SB1 and JCPS security protocol.

In the presentation, JCPS says it wants to hire 50 JCPS SROs that are JCPS screened, hired and trained. The District wants them assigned to every middle and high school. The goal also wants the SROs to patrol one to two elementary schools per officer. Below is the JCPS timeline. The District wants to have the first class of SROs ready by February 2020.

The Board of Education Business meeting will take place August 27 and the Van Hoose Education Center at 3332 Newburg Road.