Sumner County officials announced plans to hire about 20 additional school resource officers, which will put an officer inside every school.
"I'm going to call a special-called emergency meeting of the Sumner County Commission to request funding for additional school resource officers," said County Commission Chairman Scott Langford. "We want to take every step and every precaution to make sure we have the safest schools and safest students in the country."
Right now, all high schools and most middle schools in Sumner County already have an SRO. Sheriff Sonny Weatherford said new hires would mostly be stationed inside elementary schools.
Weatherford said he hopes to hire at least ten officers by May, which will give them enough training time to prepare for the next school year. Those initial hires will cost nearly $700,000 and will have an immediate $100,000 impact on this year's budget.
Weatherford said the remaining positions will be filled on a rolling basis after the first ten are in place.
Officials also stressed the importance of community involvement in keeping schools safe.
"If you hear of a problem with a student that might be an issue or a threat, let us know," said School Board member Jim Hawkins. "We have investigated every single matter that's been turned in in a very proactive and aggressive way."
The funding for additional officers needs to be approved by the county commission. It's unclear when commissioners will meet.
