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Coffee County Schools Board of Education members voted 7-0 to approve a memorandum of understanding with the state of Tennessee regarding the use of school resource officers within the district’s schools.

“In the legislative session in 2023 the state of Tennessee, they legislated money being provided for SROs across the state,” Director of Schools Dr. Charles Lawson said. “…That particular piece of legislation indicated an increase in the state involvement both in funding as well as legislating what has to be done at each location and as part of that they mandated a certain MOU.”

Lawson said Coffee County Schools use of SROs predates the state legislation.

“Even prior to that Coffee County had SROs already because Sheriff Partin, that was one of his platforms that he ran on when he ran for sheriff and after getting elected, he put those in the schools,” Lawson said.

The MOU document itself will not be made available to the general public because it details school safety.

“This MOU was not included in the board documents because it has been specifically requested by the state that we do not put that MOU out there for public consumption,” Lawson said. “The school district has to provide certain resources for the SRO and that kind of thing and part of those resources would also indicate some of the capabilities of the SRO within the building and therefore it is considered a safety document and cannot be publicly disseminated.”

Lawson said the MOU is mandated by the state and is not something Coffee County Schools had a hand in creating or negotiating back and forth on.

“This MOU from the state said hey, if SROs are going to be funded this way they are going to be provided this by the district, they are going to be provided this by the law enforcement and here is the agreement,” he said.

Lawson said there are no changes to the document itself from the one approved by the board last year.

“It is basically approving the same functionality of the SROs within the buildings as has been done in the past,” Lawson said.

Board Member Thomas Ballard asked if there are any changes to the state’s SRO funding that could impact the district.

“The funding goes to the sheriff’s department, so it is hard for me to say,” Lawson replied. “I have not heard of any increases or decreases to the funding level to my knowledge it is the same but that is run through the county books, specifically through the sheriff’s department.”

The next Coffee County Schools Board of education meeting is scheduled for August 12 at the board offices.