By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA – Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, Helena Elementary School will now have a full-time dedicated SRO officer thanks to a budget amendment from the one-cent school fund approved by the Helena City Council at the latest meeting on Monday, June 24.

Although Helena Elementary School has had an SRO officer present on campus the last few years, those officers were on a rotating basis, and the latest amendment will now allow one dedicated officer to be at the school.

“Our SROs already provide service through Pete’s team to all four of the schools and the three at the high school, intermediate school and middle school are all dedicated resources,” Helena Councilman Brian Puckett said. “The elementary school is on a rotating basis so this is going to allow the hiring of another officer to be a dedicated officer at the elementary school.”

Helena Mayor Mark Hall emphasized that the funding for the full-time officer was made available as a result of the mayor’s request to refinance the 2011 school bond issue which will allow the city to reduce its debt by the one-cent sales tax.

The 2019-2020 school year for Shelby County Schools begins on Thursday, Aug. 8.