Lawrenceburg approves MOU making school resource officers city employees

Lawrenceburg — The Board of Works and later the Common Council voted Dec. 1 to approve a memorandum of understanding that will make school resource officers city employees rather than school employees, officials said.

City attorney and presenters told the boards the change is intended to put SROs on full police employment terms, with the training, direction and standard operating procedures (SOPs) managed at police level. “They will now be city employees,” the attorney said when describing the MOU, and explained SROs will attend the full police academy plus state and federal SRO training programs.

The MOU also creates an annual June meeting between city and school representatives to define day-to-day roles so expectations don’t change mid-school-year. The document includes a dispute-resolution mechanism to address disagreements between school officials and police before escalation.

Council members noted the MOU was included in the budget and said funding for the transition has been accounted for. A motion to accept the MOU passed at the Board of Works; the Common Council subsequently voted to approve the same MOU.

The action does not itself alter specific officer assignments or funding beyond the budget authorization already presented to council; council members said more operational detail will be worked out in the June coordination meetings.

What happens next: The SROs named in the MOU will be administratively transitioned onto the city payroll under the terms described and the school board was scheduled to consider the agreement one week after the Board of Works vote, according to presenters.