Middleburg Police to provide a school resource officer to Midd-West School District
Jun. 27—MIDDLEBURG — The Middleburg Borough Police Department will provide a school resource officer (SRO) to the Midd-West School District under a five-year agreement approved by the school board Tuesday.
Under the deal, the district will pay the department $81,000 to provide the officer during the first year which begins in the 2023-24 school year.
The payment will rise during each of the following four years, to $85,050 in 2024-25; $89,302 in 2025-26; $93,767 in 2026-27 and $98,456 in 2027-28.
Middleburg Police Chief Mark Bailey said the SRO will be a new hire with full powers of arrest and a fully equipped patrol car at a full-time, 40-hour a week during the 180-day school year.
"During the summer break, the SRO will be assigned regular patrol duties," Bailey said.
Until recently, Midd-West employed a police chief and two armed security officers, but the retirement of Chief Paul Mall Jr. and resignation of officer Danny Knouse led to the board seeking to ink a deal with the borough police force.
School board President Victor Abate said the district will still have to hire another officer to ensure security coverage of the Middleburg campus and West Snyder Elementary School in Beaver Springs.
"That's on the horizon," said Superintendent Joe Stroup of the plan to approve the third officer at the Aug. 14 school board meeting following interviews of two candidates.
The school district will no longer employ its own police chief, allowing the school resource officer to oversee all of its safety protocols, he said.
"We're excited to have the agreement," Stroup said.
Bailey said the agreement provides his department with another patrol officer to fill vacant shifts during the summer months when vacation leave is typically the greatest and there are many summer community events.
His department is currently staffed with full-time Officer Chad Thomas and part-time officers Scott Rood and Michael Mitchell.
