The Palm Beach County School District has turned down the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office's offer to hire 50 new deputies to act as school resource officers, as the district figures out how to comply with the new state law requiring one in every school.
"We are all stretched to our limits for reasons beyond our control," Superintendent Donald Fennoy wrote in a letter to Sheriff Ric Bradshaw Friday.
The district has now asked PBSO to provide 10 to 20 deputies at an overtime rate. A letter from Superintendent Fennoy said they would then be the first to be replaced as the school district police department hires its own officers.
"In addition to reallocating officers from investigations, K9 and other special units, and accelerating the background checks for 18 officers in the hiring pipeline, we are also exploring the private security solution you suggested," he wrote.
Sheriff Bradshaw has rescinded the offer for hiring 50 deputies to act as school resource officers because he said he doesn't have enough time after this point to go through that process before the beginning of the school year, but he has offered to provide the school district with 10 deputies at a time and a half rate.
“It’s a consistency issue and I can’t guarantee it’s going to be the same deputy every day because we’re going to have to find 10 people to work it," Sheriff Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw said he’s not sure how much this will cost yet because each deputy could have a different pay rate.
"I understand their position and I understand the constraints they’re working under and no problem at all, I’ll do the best I can do to do, the ten deputies," he said.
