Henry County and NLCSD negotiate full-time school resource officer contract

MT. PLEASANT — At their Aug. 22 meeting, Henry County Supervisors approved the Sheriff’s Office’s request to move ahead with contract negotiations to provide New London Community School District a full-time School Resource Officer for the 2024-2025 school year.

Last year, NLCSD signed a contract with Henry County Sheriff’s Office for a deputy to fill the role of a part time school resource officer in their district. According to NLCSD Superintendent Chad Wahls, through the addition of a school resource officer the district has seen improvement in the schools, along with the education extended to students and staff.

In addition to expanding the position, NLCSD’s attorney advised the district to request a new deputy due to “unresolved issues” with the current one.

The board approved Sheriff Rich McNamee taking a 28E agreement reviewed by Henry County Assistant Attorney Steven Giebelhausen back to the school district and beginning negotiations despite expressing concerns about overtime pay and reimbursement discrepancies from last year’s agreement.

While McNamee informed the board that changes made by Giebelhausen were primarily wording, Supervisor Marc Lindeen specifically asked about the contract outlining a 40-hour per week contract with the school.

“Beyond that 86 hours, we’re on the hook for overtime,” Lindeen said. “I don’t think that is fair to the taxpayers of the county, entirely.”

Lindeen further explained his concern centered on the school district not paying any overtime and what that would mean if other school districts began to request the same.

“I hope they do,” McNamee told the board. “I think it is important in 2024 to have officers in our schools. We discussed that a year and a half ago and I think it’s an obligation I feel necessary to try and uphold to protect those children and faculty.”

McNamee also explained that the expectation would be that the deputy would not work over the allotted 40 hours for the school district. Supervisor Greg Moeller raised questions about this explanation as he said, “there were a lot of SRO hours that were served beyond the 20 hours that he was scheduled for and under obligation with the 28E agreement.”

When asked about the discrepancy between the initial agreement and the paid amount in the 2023-2024 school year’s 28E agreement for the part-time school resource officer at NLCSD, McNamee explained it was simply a human error. According to McNamee, his clerical staff mistakenly charged the school district the hourly rate of the deputy instead of the total cost rate agreed upon for part of the contract period.

“It was a live and learn situation,” McNamee said. “It was year one of a contract and we made an error in our calculations.”

As it stands, McNamee will continue with negotiations to place a full-time deputy in NLCSD as a school resource officer. Once the district approves the contract, it will return to the supervisors for approval before moving forward.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com