The county schools are struggling to keep School Resource Officers. Officials said there are currently nine vacancies and four more are slated to go on leave.
To try to get more SROs, the school board on Thursday night voted to give $2,000 signing bonuses.
There was discussion about hiring off-duty city police officers to help man the posts at $40 per hour. However, Supt. Bryan Johnson said, "The city has tons of vacancies as well."
Board member Tucker McClendon suggested raising the rate to $50 or $60 per hour, saying the schools must have coverage. Jenny Hill, another board member, cautioned about taking that approach, saying the system might end up with just part-timers who could make more than going full-time.
Brent Goldberg, county school finance director, said there is a large overage in the budget for SROs due to the vacancies.
So the schools decided to hire a school safety director, who will give attention to overall school safety and emergency management issues.
Officials said the safety director would not have anyone working under them and would have no say-so over the SROs.
The pay would be in the range of $55,000 to $70,000.
The board approved the post with only Rhonda Thurman opposed. She said the principals already have safety plans in place at each school.
Supt. Johnson said the safety director could take over several functions now spread among several different administrators.