An agreement between the city of Fayetteville and Cumberland County Schools for the city to provide school resource officers and traffic control officers in city schools was signed Thursday, officials said.
City, county and school board representatives discussed the matter at a joint Fayetteville-Cumberland Liaison Committee meeting Thursday at Fayetteville City Hall.
In May, Sheriff Ennis Wright notified police chiefs in each of Cumberland County’s municipalities that his department could no longer provide the staffing for schools outside the county's jurisdiction. This includes Fayetteville, Hope Mills and Spring Lake.
School Board Chair Deanna Jones said at the meeting that schools will “be covered” in time for the Aug. 26 start of the traditional school year based on the agreement that the district has signed.
City Manager Doug Hewett said he looked forward to signing the agreement Thursday afternoon.
In addition to the Fayetteville Police Department providing the school resource officers, Hewett said the city will start with 66 traffic control officers and “supplement the rest.”
Fayetteville Councilman Mario Benavente pressed Jones about the school district not having the same level of "full" coverage, compared to what the Sheriff’s Office maintained.
“We have no control over it. When you say full, it’s not full, but we’re doing the best we can,” Jones responded.
School-to-prison pipeline?
Benavente said he would still like to review data of disciplinary issues and law enforcement responses in the schools.
Hewett said because the incidents involve minors, the analysis is limited.
The exchange grew tense when Benavente further pressed school district officials about whether they would be open to an agreement on programming to reduce juvenile delinquency and suspensions of minority students.
Benavente said the city now “owns” those statistics because a line no longer exits that used to separate the city from the schools when the sheriff managed the school resource office program.
“We want to be very deliberate and clear that we want to impact those numbers,” he said.
Cumberland County Commissioners’ Chairman Glenn Adams said he thinks the matter should be discussed with the school district superintendent and entire school board.
Mayor Mitch Colvin said the data Benavente referenced about juvenile arrests in schools is unverified and he thinks it puts the district at an unfair advantage to have the school board chair agree to a commitment without further discussion.
City Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen clarified Benavente’s point that the city’s police force will now be in schools making the city “own” the number of juveniles arrested if something happens in a school.
Jensen said any 911 call made from a school in Fayetteville is now handled by the police department.
Colvin said nothing has changed with 911 calls compared to prior years.
Hewett said city staffers can review Benavente’s point in the future because the city and school district agreement makes mention of both entities collaborating to develop ideas to better refine the school resource officer program.
Benavente said he would like to see funding go toward social workers since the county is no longer funding school resource and traffic control officers out of the sheriff’s budget.
Adams said Thursday’s meeting was not the time or place for that conversation. He said it would be something the school district would bring to the county if it wanted funding in that specific area.
Benavente was ardent that the matter “needed to be said,” prompting Adams to repeat several times that Benavente, as a member of the City Council, does not know what money the county has in its budget.
Other school updates
In other school district updates, Jones reported that the district has roughly 57,000 students and 6,000 staff members.
She told committee members that the district’s priorities include safety, with the district installing metal detectors for the upcoming school year as an update to school security measures.
She also provided officials with the number of unfilled positions in the school district. She said the district is short 49 exceptional program teachers for special needs students.
Pedestrian Plan
Committee members also received an update on the city’s pedestrian plan study, which evaluates where sidewalks and crosswalks will be in the city.
A representative for the city’s agency conducting the study said they're working on a supplemental study to determine where school crosswalks should be located.
The city has an online survey for resident input on the matter. It will continue through August, before an in-person meeting is scheduled for Aug. 28 at the Fayetteville Area System of Transit building.
Amusem*nt park and aquatics center
Committee members also discussed whether to move forward on bringing an amusem*nt park to the area.
Adams said the county has other budget priorities at the moment and is not in agreeance to help fund the amusem*nt park initiative.
City and county representatives did agree to further discussions on a plan for an aquatics center in the area.
Fayetteville-Cumberland County Parks and Recreation Director Michael Gibson said the idea is to have a 35,000-square-foot aquatics center with three pools — a competition pool, a therapy area and a play area similar to Great Wolf Lodge; and 700-1,000 seats for the public and a human performance center on the second floor.
Gibson said it would differ from Hoke County’s aquatics center and could cost from $35 million to $40 million.
County Commissioner Jimmy Keefe pointed out that the county does not have an indoor swimming pool for students and competitive swimmers.
Officials said they foresee the discussions continuing with stakeholders, including universities, other county municipalities, Fort Liberty and the hospital.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
