The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners voted 6-0 Tuesday to approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Office and Centreville Public Schools. The MOU establishes having a sheriff’s deputy in the district as a School Resource Officer (SRO).
Despite this, the school district has halted its plans on moving forward with having an SRO. Superintendent Chad Brady said it is a matter of waiting until the finances are in order.
“We still have every intention of fulfilling this goal, however, we are still trying to get a grip on changes that have come as a result of funding from the Michigan Legislature,” Brady said Thursday. “I would have thought that the state would have approved a budget that would have included the same funding for school safety as it has before, but it did not. We are in the process of restructuring. We will not enter into any kind of agreement with any agency until we have an understanding on how to cover the cost.”
The agreement was intended to take effect Monday, September 16, and last for two weeks past Friday, May 30, 2025, the last day of the school calendar year.
The SRO would assist with crisis prevention and school safety services for the district. The SRO would not be involved in enforcing school discipline.
The administration of student discipline, including student code of conduct violations and student misbehavior, would be the responsibility of the school administrators unless the violation or misbehavior involves criminal conduct for which law enforcement intervention is required.
The SRO and any assigned officers performing services under the agreement would be deemed a part of the district’s “law enforcement unit,” as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Assigned officers would be considered “school officials determined to have a legitimate educational interest” in accordance with FERPA.
St. Joseph County would supply a SRO for a period of 39 weeks. The county would supply Centreville Public Schools with a SRO that is a fully licensed deputy for 1,560 hours per year. The county would also furnish and supply supervision, equipment, communication facilities and other necessary supplies to the SRO required to perform their services.
Contact people for the agreement would be Superintendent Brady, County Administrator Teresa Cupp, and Undersheriff Jason Bingaman.
