Some schools in the Green Bay District could see more resource officers soon.
It's now an idea being discussed between the school board and the police department.
A captain with the department tells NBC26 they recently did an analysis of their school resource officer program and one of the recommendations coming from the report is adding three more officers to work in elementary schools.
“We're going to work very closely with the Green Bay Area School District to make sure that they want that, they need that and can encompass that,” said Capt. Kevin Warych, with the Green Bay Police Dept.
Right now, there are 11 officers at middle and high schools in the district, and they do work with some elementary schools.
Last month, the school board decided not to go with Chief Andrew Smith's proposal of having an armed guard in every school, which he brought up after the Parkland, Florida school shooting.
The idea of adding three resource officers is not a proposal at this point, but school board trustee, Rhonda Sitnikau, says adding more police into schools isn't the answer for her.
“As far as I'm concerned kids don't need to see more officers, they need to see more social services; they need more special education possibilities. And I also believe whatever we can do to reduce class sizes is also very important,” said Sitnikau.
Sitnikau says her focus is always on the students.
Right now, the school resource officer program is paid for by the school district, but they report to the police department.
The board will discuss this idea later this month.
