ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo.—The Rockwood School District is bringing another layer of security to its schools by adding four School Safety Officers. The school board approved the program Thursday night. 

What You Need To Know

  • Rockwood School District Board of Education approved a plan to add four school safety officers

  • The plan includes adding an armed officer to each quadrant of the district

  • The officers would float in between several school buildings and would be an additional layer of support to school resource officers

Superintendent Curtis Cain told the school board that they’ve talked about safety being a top priority and believe it is time to expand what is being done for the district’s schools. 

The plan includes hiring four school safety officers, one for each quadrant of the district to provide additional safety coverage at the elementary schools. Cain explained they will have a marked district vehicle and will be armed. 

“We feel that it is important that these personnel are armed,” explained Cain. 

He said the officers would not only have a sidearm but other non-lethal options at their disposal. 

Cain also stressed several times that these school safety officers would be an additional layer of support and would not replace any school resource officers. 

He told the board historically, there has been a gap in coverage on the elementary level. The safety officers will float over multiple municipalities to provide coverage for the district. 

Cain explained the officers will also rotate between their assigned schools and that schedule will not be public.

“We need to have this ability for people to not necessarily know when and where the safety officer is going to be appearing,” said Cain. 

The four school safety officers will be available before and after school hours and will carry out other duties as needed. 

Cain explained this plan has been in the works since last summer and there have been several discussions with other organizations and police departments in the district.

Board member Tamara Jo Rhomberg asked about how this will affect the district’s budget. Cain said it is a bit of a sacrifice and means other priority items won’t be addressed. 

“We talked about safety being so important in this district, it felt like it was the right time to add this layer of protection,” he explained. 

Before the vote, board member Randy Miller said “thanks for making due on your promise to increase our level of safety. I know it is a sacrifice for the district monetarily, but I think it is long overdue.”

Besides Rockwood’s move to add school safety officers, next week St. Louis County will unveil its new school safety plan. The school premise identification effort is currently underway and labels every school the same way so first responders can better navigate buildings without a map. The county will release more details on the plan Monday morning.