Shortly after a shooter killed 17 people and wounded 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018, parents of Hamilton County public school children made clear school safety was utmost in their minds.
Within a short time, a consensus developed around the need for school resource officers in every school as the best possible hedge against a similar incident. It was acknowledged then that hiring and training such officers would take time and money, but that became the plan.
On Thursday night, Hamilton County Board of Education members acknowledged that some schools still don't have resource officers.
Currently, 31 schools in the district have a full-time school resource officer. Nine additional positions, which are filled by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, were budgeted for this school year but remain vacant.
School board members concluded the issue was out of their hands.
"We've done everything we can," said board member Karitsa Mosley Jones. "The level of accountability is with the county commissioners. ... It's clearly a conversation for the mayor and commissioners to have with the sheriff."
Superintendent Bryan Johnson said the school system doesn't control SRO hires. He later added, "We are waiting on them (the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office). ... We don't process resource officers."
However, board member Joe Smith said he had recently spoken with Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond, who said he was waiting on the school district.
So while the school board, administration and sheriff all talk about filling SRO positions as quickly as possible, no headway is being made.
That's not good enough.
We think school safety deserves at least a mini-summit between the sheriff and newly hired Hamilton County Student Safety Coordinator Dr. James Corbin, who had been on the job four days when he was asked to address the situation at Thursday's school board meeting.
Corbin, who has been a police officer, a school resource officer, a social studies teacher and operated a criminal justice training company, said the worst thing that could happen is for people to become complacent, to feel "it can't happen here."
"When we have that level of deniability," he said, "that's when we're at risk. .... A lot of people still have that feeling: 'This is a small town.' .... [But] it can happen here. .... We are not protected here. There is no glass dome."
Yet Corbin said hiring security guards while waiting for resource officers "really doesn't work"; hiring retired police officers would be problematic and acknowledged the fact not every officer wants to work with children; and said arming teachers "scares me to death."
However, in response to several board members, he indicated he could and would work with teachers to further train them on preparation and response to such incidents.
Johnson acknowledged there is $500,000 in the budget for hiring resource officers. The school district has installed new electronic locks and upgraded video cameras and phones in every classroom. Johnson also said $2,000 bonuses have been authorized for hiring resource officers.
"It's a lot of work," he said.
Johnson and Corbin conceded the availability of well-paying jobs has been a factor in being unable to hire resource officers.
"It's tough to get officers in these jobs," Corbin said, "because the economy's good. You have to recruit people in the profession [and] get them ready. It's not just getting the applicants."
Board member Tucker McClendon pointed out Knox, Williamson, Shelby and Rutherford counties have resource officers fully or nearly fully staffed.
"We are lagging so far behind in this aspect," he said. "We can't hire with a bonus, but these other districts are."
Smith said if school safety is as important it was after the Parkland shootings, "we've got to do something. We can't keep waiting for officers to fall out of the sky. What are we going to do while waiting for a miracle to happen?"
Several board members also mentioned getting little or no help from Chattanooga and other county municipalities in helping supply resource officers. If a mini-summit between Hammond and Corbin occurs, perhaps safety representatives from each municipality could join them. And if they aren't able to supply officers, maybe the municipalities could supply an amount of money for additional hiring bonuses for resource officers in their towns.
As Smith noted, officers are not going to fall out of the sky, but if school safety is still a primary issue, the school board, administration and the sheriff need to redouble their efforts to see that students are protected.