In preparation for another school year, Genesee County Sheriff William Sheron notified the Public Service Committee this week of renewals for five school resource officers totaling nearly $670,000 in contract costs while Pavilion Central School is preparing to bring its new SRO on board.
The terms for the other five districts range from 10 to 24 months for SROs Eric Meyer with Alexander, Josh Brabon with Byron-Bergen, Ryan Young with Elba, Jordan Alejandro with Oakfield-Alabama and Patrick Reeves with Pembroke school districts. Expenses are reimbursed by each district for the hourly rate, fringe benefits and insurance.
And as for the pending open position at Pavilion Central School, the contract for a new SRO is on Monday’s school board agenda, Pavilion Superintendent Kate Hoffman said Friday. She will issue a statement after the board’s expected approval on Monday, she said.
The open SRO position at Pavilion Central School became vacant earlier this summer when Deputy Jeremy McClellan was asked to leave the role. He remains employed at the Sheriff’s Office. McClellan's departure was strongly contested by Pavilion families and community members.
The breakdown of each negotiated price for those SROs already in place, based on the type of medical or buy-back plan chosen, per district is as follows:
- Alexander, at 12 months, is $98,838.04
- Byron-Bergen at 12 months is $104,036.73
- Elba for 24 months is $241,138.53
- Oakfield-Alabama for 12 months is $119,980.39
- Pembroke for 10 months is $104,433.78
The Genesee County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association 2020-23 Labor Agreement contract I is to expire on Dec. 31, and the hourly rate for 2024 and 2025 will not be known until it is ratified, according to the resolution; therefore, the rate listed include the current 2023 hourly rates. The yearly retirement and medical rates are also not available until late fall each year, and therefore the rate listed includes 2023 rates.
Once all of the rates have been confirmed, they will be modified, and, if applicable, the difference will be billed under a separate invoice, or a credit will be applied.
The contracts will go to the county Legislature for final approval.
What do these school resource officers do? During a presentation to the city school board earlier this year, Batavia’s SRO, Miah Stevens, said the answer is simple.
“We're just placed in the school. We do everything we would do on the road and more. We get to build relationships with students, we get to kind of act as counselors in certain situations,” she said during that June board meeting. “For our agreement with the schools, we go to the training from the state of New York Police Juvenile Officers Association. So we are members of this, and basically, they just help us stay up to date on laws that change or any other information that we should need to know.”
