LEBANON — School officials have decided to maintain Lebanon’s school resource officer position while an outside firm studies issues regarding equity and race within the city’s schools.
The Lebanon School Board voted, 7-1, Wednesday night to fund the police post for the 2021-2022 school year and also seek an equality assessment that could help guide future decisions.
That study would be due by Nov. 1, in time for the School Board’s budget talks for the 2022-2023 school year.
The School Board’s decision came almost two hours into a meeting where speakers overwhelmingly called on officials to stop spending on the school resource officer post.
Most reiterated stories about Lebanon children, and particularly those of color, feeling uncomfortable with an armed officer patrolling their school. Board member Stephen Kantor said he understood those concerns but still didn’t feel comfortable cutting the police funding.
“Like all of my colleagues here, I want to do the right thing,” he said. “However, it is my opinion that there is currently a lack of good, quality, locally relevant data that’s available that can guide me in this decision-making process.”
But board member Vice Chairwoman Jenica Nelan, the lone opposition vote, wondered whether her colleagues were simply “evading” a tough vote.
“I’m not convinced that more data’s going to solve this problem for us,” she said. “There’s only so much data that I think applies to the question and that applies to our district.”
City residents narrowly voted, 1,011-1,006, in March to approve a nonbinding proposal to do away with the school resource officer position currently held by Lebanon Police Officer Gregory Parthum.
The post costs around $120,000, with the expense shared equally between the school district and the city.