Clarkston board weighs emergency county increase that would raise school resource officer costs

The Clarkston Community Schools Board of Education on Monday discussed a county-driven increase in Oakland County Sheriff Department costs that administrators say would raise the district’s bill for school resource officers and strain township partners.

The board’s superintendent, Dr. Sean Ryan, told trustees the district currently has one officer assigned to each secondary building and one officer covering the district’s seven elementary schools. He said the district is “evaluating and negotiating with our townships” after what he described as an abrupt county decision that produced “an enormous” and unexplained increase in costs for contracted officers.

Dr. Ryan said the county’s action produced increases in the range of roughly 15–18 percent overall and, for school resource officers, possibly higher. “This increase,” he said, “was done unilaterally … after…