PBC School Board approves $6.7 million for outside police as district vacancies grow

The Palm Beach County School Board has approved a multimillion-dollar request to contract with outside law enforcement agencies in the new school year, as the district’s own police department faces rising vacancies.

In an interview on Wednesday, one day shy of her three-month anniversary on the job, district Police Chief Sarah Mooney said her request for $6.7 million – an increase from the prior school year, when the board approved at least $2.91 million – would provide the flexibility to reduce or increase the number of officers from outside agencies as needs change.

She said the district’s police department had 72 vacancies on Tuesday, a slight uptick from the 68 reported in February, when the district had 248 officers working in its department.

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“It’s kind of just to give me a cushion,” she said of the new funding. “If we don't have to spend it all, great.” 

About one year ago, the school board granted $360,000 to then-Police Chief Daniel Alexander, allowing the district to enter into a contract with Extra Duty Solutions, which provides officers from the West Palm Beach and Jupiter police departments.

The board also approved $1 million last year to enter into contracts with the Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Palm Beach Gardens police departments to ensure that every public school had at least one officer on campus – a requirement of Florida law.

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The school district expected that money – which pays for the overtime rates of outside law enforcement – to last the entire school year, and it was believed that costs might be lower than the approved amount, according to the Aug. 4, 2021, meeting agenda.

“As the District increases its own police force, staffing requested from local law enforcement agencies will be reduced,” it read.

But vacancies in the district police department held steady, and the board approved another $1 million to enter into a contract with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office in March, giving the district access to 20 deputies and two sergeants.

Less than a month later, as the end of school approached, the school board approved an additional $550,000 to continue funding the agreements for West Palm Beach and Jupiter police officers, adding to the original $360,000 approved in August 2021.

That brought funding for outside security to at least $2.91 million for the last school year, according to a review of school board minutes.  

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When asked why the latest request for $6.7 million appeared to be noticeably higher than past funding, Mooney said one factor was the increased need for outside help in the upcoming school year, which begins Wednesday.

“It’s trying to forecast it out realistically, and I know it’s an extremely high number, but this is an expensive proposition,” Mooney said. “It’s an expensive business.” 

Superintendent Mike Burke said in March that he relied on about 32 officers and deputies from outside agencies to fill gaps in the district's police force.

The new funding will pay for 45 officers and deputies, along with two supervisors from the sheriff’s office, the chief said.

And the initial money approved for outside police officers in August 2021 wasn’t enough to fund an entire school year, she continued, noting that her request would cover security through the whole 2022-23 school year.

“I can't comment on the total amount that was spent on coverage last year as I was not here then,” the chief said. “However, I do know they had to request additional funding during the middle of the school year to extend coverage through May.”

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Mooney, former head of the West Palm Beach Police Department, recited the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor on May 4 and became the school district’s fourth police chief in about a year.

Months before her arrival, an unknown number of officers wrote an anonymous letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis, highlighting dozens of vacancies in the school police department and pushing for a takeover by the sheriff’s office, a possible solution to their agency's staffing woes. 

Another person, who identified themselves only as a retired officer, wrote a letter to the school board, outlining concerns about department leadership, resources and morale. 

But the largest challenge to staffing, Mooney said, is one that all law enforcement agencies face: retirements.

And that issue is especially prevalent among school police officers, who often work at city police departments before joining the district, she continued.

“It’s a unique pool of candidates that are school police officers, because a lot of them are basically on second careers, and on any given day they may decide, you know what, I don’t want to do this anymore,” the chief said. “There’s not even necessarily a reason other than I did my time and it’s time to go off and do my retirement.”

Another obstacle, she said, is finding experienced candidates and then making sure those officers are trained to work specifically in schools, which requires a different form of policing.

Mooney said her department expects 18 officers to undergo training in the new school year, with about half of those officers finishing by mid-October.

Mooney hopes to address vacancy issue in district police department

Mooney is hoping a recent agreement between the school district and the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association, approved by the school board on June 15, will help to attract and retain more officers in the coming months.

Among other provisions, the agreement increased officers' hourly rate by 5% and increased the hourly rate for outside details to $40 from $35.

The district police department later posted a recruitment poster to social media, targeting certified officers in Florida and beyond.

"Don't give up on policing. Try something new: Protecting & Serving Our Most Valuable Resources," the poster read.

It touted a starting salary of $47,053 for 200 duty days or 1,600 hours of work, along with paid holidays, health plans, retirement benefits and opportunities for promotions or special assignments.

Mooney said one of her short-term goals is to reach an agreement that provides officers with more workdays and opportunities to make money.

A long-term goal, she said, is to start recruiting internally at the school district.

"People who are already in with the district or have specific experience that would make them really good police officers, we could hire them, put them in the police academy and have them be part of the team," she said.

The district is also targeting experienced, out-of-state officers who can quickly become certified in Florida through the state's "equivalency of training" process, which exempts certain people from basic training.

And the top priority, Mooney said, was preparing the department's existing officers and resources for the start of school on Wednesday before ramping up the effort to fill vacancies over the next year.

“We just allocated some new resources toward our recruitment efforts," the chief said. "We’re working with our HR department on some deeper dives into what kind of processes we need to try and come up with that will get more people in the door.”

Giuseppe Sabella is an education reporter at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at gsabella@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism and subscribe today. 

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Vacancies plague Palm Beach County's school police department