THOMASVILLE — Thomas County commissioners amended the 2018 budget to fund an additional four school resource officers (SROs) in Thomas County schools.

The unanimous action came at a Tuesday board meeting.

This year’s county budget will be amended by $211,082. Originally, the budget had a 2018 SRO expenditure of $126,146.

New officers, Thomas County Sheriff’s Office deputies, will begin in the 2018-10 schol year, said Thomas County Sheriff Carlton Powell.

“We’ve already selected four to go there,” Powell said. “We had some officers who applied.”

The four officers who will become SROs will be replaced, the sheriff said.

The Thomas County Board of Education will pay three-quarters of the SROs’ salaries. The remainder will come from the county government budget.

The Thomas County School System now has three SROs who serve six campuses —Hand-In-Hand Primary School, Garrison-Pilcher Elementary School, Cross Creek Elementary School, Thomas County Middle School, Thomas County Central High School and the Bishop Hall Charter School and Board of Education campus.

“The officers are on call to serve all of our schools, but currently one officer is based primarily at Thomas County Central High School, one officer is based at Thomas County Middle School, and a third officer serves Bishop Hall Charter School, The Renaissance Center (alternative school), and the Pathways Program,” said Superintendent Dr. Dusty Kornegay.

The addition of four officers will allow each school to have a dedicated officer, with the high school having two officers, Kornegay said.

Hand-In-Hand Primary School, Garrison-Pilcher Elementary School and Cross Creek Elementary School will have an SRO this fall, he said, and Thomas County Central High School will have two officers.

“The safety of our students is always our first priority, and the increase of violent incidents on school campuses across the nation has made us re-evaluate our security plan,” Kornegay said. “(Sheriff) Powell and I have spoken several times over the last few months about both short-term and long-term plans for increasing school security, and he and I agree that we have a need to increase the number of officers dedicated to supporting our schools.”

Kornegay expressed gratitude that the school board and county commission agreed to support expansion of the SRO program.

“The SRO program has long been a partnership among the school system, the sheriff’s office and the county commission,” he said. “The school board pays the salaries for the SROs during the months when school is in session, and the county pays the salaries when school is not in session. Training and equipment costs are covered primarily through the sheriff’s office budget.”

The school board added $192,000 to the 2018-19 budget for the four additional SROs, an average cost of $48,000 per officer, including salary and benefits for the months school is in session.

Thomas County Commission Chairman Wiley Grady said the new additional SROs will work as regular deputies when school is not in session.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820