Pickett Schools Pleased With More State Funding For SROs

Pickett County Schools will receive $70,000 for School Resource Officers plus an additional calculation from the School Safety Grant.

Director of Pickett County Schools Diane Elder said Pickett had proactively self-funded two SRO positions for years now.

Elder said they were excited to learn that SRO positions would be funded by the state in the future. She said the board was cautiously planning uses for additional grant funding while they await specific dollar amounts.

“The $75,000 per school it is very much needed and very much appreciated,” Elder said. “So I’m hoping that we will get to either add an additional SRO maybe to the high school or spend the excess money on some upgrades.”

Elder said the board had talked about using funding for a vestibule for the High School. Currently, when you enter the school there is no barrier to the rest of the building.

Elder said the board is discussing multiple options and they hope they will receive funding for key safety improvements.

“We work very closely with our Sheriff’s Department,” Elder said. “We’ve had training with them. We’re including that information in our discussions.”

Elder said there will be in-house meetings with principals, supervisors, and the safety committee once final details about Pickett’s grant are released.

“Right now,” Elder said. “We are just in the process of planning.”