Tennessee schools director says ‘I have other things to worry about’ than school safety

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A Tennessee director of faculties needed to stroll again a remark about college security after he stated he had “different issues to do than worrying about our faculties being safe” throughout a board assembly on Thursday night time.

Grundy County Director of Colleges Dr. Clint Durley shortly apologized after the remark was made on the Grundy County Faculty Board assembly on Thursday night time.

The remark got here from Durley after a heated dialogue about having college useful resource officers or SROs at each college.

“How about you let the Sheriff and his officers defend our youngsters and neighborhood? As a substitute, you rent rent-a-cops with no formal coaching,” somebody stated on the Grundy County Faculty Board assembly on Thursday.

The remark got here months of constructing frustration for Grundy County Faculty mother and father.

In response, Durley stated: “I’m at some extent the place I’ve different issues to fret about, different issues to do than worrying about our faculties being safe. That didn’t come out proper. It’s a concern of mine for the colleges to be safe, I apologize.”

In September 2022, Grundy County Colleges allegedly didn’t have college useful resource officers. Final month, SROs have been nonetheless absent attributable to a disputed contract between the sheriff and director of faculties’ workplace.

“We’re nonetheless ready to settle the MOU to get our SROs into the colleges,” Grundy County Sheriff Heath Gunter stated.

In keeping with CNN, the contract between Grundy County Colleges and the sheriff’s workplace stays unsigned, however the sheriff stated they’ve agreed to let deputies patrol the colleges till it’s signed.

When requested about whether or not SROs are again in Grundy faculties, the sheriff responded that there are SROs in faculties.

Gunter stated a choice was made a number of weeks in the past.

“We’ve been offering safety for fairly some time now, each inside the college and out of doors the college,” Gunter stated.

With deputies patrolling the colleges, the contract dialogue was postponed for the following college yr, in line with CNN.

For the reason that lethal taking pictures at The Covenant Faculty in Nashville in March, Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee has been pushing for state funding to place an armed officer in each public college.

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