Knox School Board Holds Off on Adding School Resource Officer amid Funding Concerns

While the Knox Community School Corporation would like to add a school resource officer, funding isn’t available at this point. That’s what School Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart told the school board Tuesday.

The topic had been listed as a business item on the advance meeting agenda, but no action was taken. “We don’t need to vote on that at this point in time,” Reichhart said, “but publicly, we just want to say that Knox Community Schools is in favor of hiring a school resource officer for our district, and at this time, funding is unavailable.”

Over the past few months, Reichhart had been discussing the idea with Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin. “We are willing to do our share,” Reichhart said, “but right now, we have not been able to get a commitment from the Starke County Sheriff’s Office, to commit to funding that position at the present time.”

Sheriff Dulin previously told WKVI News that he discussed possible funding arrangements with Reichhart and that he was of the understanding that the school corporation had some grant funding available. Knox Schools was recently awarded a $50,000 Secured School Safety Matching Grant to help pay for a new fire/surveillance system at the high school.