Sunrise Beach police present SRO proposal for Hurricane Deck; board reviews SRO MOUs

Chief Scott Craig of the Sunrise Beach Police Department introduced a proposed student resource officer (SRO) MOU for Hurricane Deck Elementary and described program elements the department would offer if the district adopts the MOU.

Chief Craig said the Sunrise Beach proposal would keep an existing, well-known officer — Jason Sylvester — in the school but change his employer and vehicle; the department would assign a 2020 Dodge Charger and work with the LCTC program to design the vehicle. Craig described a training sequence that would include national and state conferences in the first years and a small-team approach to cover SRO duties when the assigned officer is absent.

Chief Craig also said Sunrise Beach secured funds with MoDOT for a permanent “traffic garden” at Hurricane Deck Elementary that would teach second- and third-grade traffic and bicycle-safety skills on a scaled paved course. Craig described the MOU as “a la carte”: the district would specify how many days per week the officer would be at the school and pay only for those days; Sunrise Beach said it would not charge overtime for required meetings but would offer options to flex time.

District staff presented the district’s annual review of SRO MOUs; the board heard that an SRO is present at all buildings except the LCTC program, where the district partners with Camdenton city police and county arrangements cover some elementary sites. The board did not vote on the Sunrise Beach MOU at the April 14 meeting; administrators said personnel discussion on the proposal would continue in executive session and that they would notify the board if they had additional questions.

Separately, the board approved MOUs with three community partners — COMC, Kids Harbor and Compass Health — for services the district has used in prior years.