The Police and District issued the following media release
Monday:
Area schools are back in session today after a holiday
break. Administrators and teachers are working diligently to return a sense of
normalcy to the buildings after the recent stress of the Newtown, Connecticut
incident.
Over the holiday break School District and Coeur d’Alene
City officials met to continue earlier discussion on the importance of school
safety.
A mutual decision was made to immediately fill the vacant
Canfield Middle School Resource Officer position. The assignment of an officer
to Canfield will bring the total number of officers in our high schools and
middle schools to six.
The Police Department intends to use the six officers to
also show a visible presence at the elementary schools.
Mayor Sandi Bloem supported the decision in her statement of
“Since 1996 The City of Coeur d’Alene has enjoyed a long, successful,
partnership with School District 271 focused on safety in our schools. With
shared funding the Police Department has placed School Resource Officers in our
high schools, and all middle schools with the current exception of Canfield
Middle School. The safety of our children and our citizens is the number one
priority for City and School District leaders. Starting January 7th our Police
Department will use existing police personnel to be accessible, and visible at
Canfield. The City and the School District are working together to fill the SRO
position permanently by fall of 2013.”
Superintendent Hazel Bauman also expressed support stating "We've
appreciated the longstanding support of The Coeur d'Alene Police Department and
the effective use of a School Resource Officer model in our school district.
We are happy to begin immediate implementation of increasing our SRO
presence not only at Canfield but across our district."
