Chief Bradley Mckeone greets students at Sawgrass Springs Middle School with School Resource Officer Janice Matsko. {Coral Springs Police}
By Bryan Boggiano
Coral Springs may finally get reimbursement from the school board for providing school resource officers (SROs) for the 2022/2023 school year.
The city commission will vote on a contract addressing SRO responsibilities, pay, and other duties.
If the contract passes, Coral Springs will be reimbursed $2,266,000 from the school board. This includes only salary, not health insurance, pension, or equipment-related costs.
Currently, the board contracts with Coral Springs, which provides law enforcement services via the Coral Springs Police Department, to provide SROs to all 19 public schools located in the city.
Each elementary and middle school has one officer. Coral Springs Elementary-Middle, a K-8 school, also has one. High schools each have two.
Under the contract, Coral Springs agrees to maintain SROs on duty during regular school hours and by the number of officers specified, according to city documents. The contract runs from August 16, 2022, until June 8, 2023.
Despite a contract not being in place for most of the school year, Coral Springs provided SROs to all public schools within the city. But, while the city provides officers, the school board should reimburse those services.
The agreement that would provide reimbursement was marked by months of delays.
At the city commission’s April 26 retreat, Police Chief Brad McKeone said then-superintendent Vicki Cartwright promised to have a contract in place following the passage of the Secure the Next Generation Referendum in August 2022, which passed.
Negotiations on the new contract did not begin until January and continued through March. The controversy reached a boiling point at the school board’s March 28 workshop, when Broward League of Cities President Bob Mayersohn and Broward County Chiefs of Police Association President Christopher O’Brien implored the board to take action.
At their April 11 meeting, the board agreed to reimburse cities $103,000 per SRO per year, up from the previous $61,200.
The commission will discuss and vote on the contract at their May 17 meeting at 6:30 p.m.
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