After a one-year hiatus, the Brocton Central School District is looking to bring back a School Resource Officer to its building.

During a Public Safety Committee meeting this week for the Chautauqua County Legislature, members backed an agreement for the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office to provide an officer to Brocton at a cost of $97,938 for the 2021-22 school year.

Capt. Rich Telford with the Sheriff’s Office spoke during the meeting. “We did have an SRO at Brocton a couple of years ago. This past year they opted out. They are looking to reconvene with us,” he said.

The Public Safety Committee also agreed to a contract with BOCES for two officers for $224,920. One officer will be stationed at the Academy at Maple Avenue in Cassadaga while the other officer will split time between Loguidice in Fredonia and Hewes in Ashville.

During the 2020-21 school year, only BOCES and the Silver Creek Central School District had contracts with the Sheriff’s Office to provide School Resource Officers.

Along with Brocton, last year Pine Valley, Forestville, Cassadaga Valley, Maple Grove and Frewsburg all eliminated their School Resource Officers. Telford said he was not aware of any other schools in the county that were attempting to bring in an SRO for the 2021-22 school year.

Legislator Dan Pavlock, R-Sinclairvlle, said he would like to see other schools have officers. “I know a lot of schools had a very tight budget and unfortunately the SRO was one of the first ones to go, rather than a teacher or some other educational person,” he said.

Pavlock believes it’s good for school officers to socialize with students and build that trust with law enforcement. “Hopefully we can get some more schools on board again in a couple of years,” he said.

Telford blamed a lot of the cuts last year on COVID-19 and said some schools just haven’t recovered enough financially.

Committee members noted that although the Sheriff’s Office only has contracts for four officers, some schools utilize their local police departments, including Jamestown, Dunkirk, Falconer and Southwestern schools.

The proposed contracts need final approval from the full legislature at their meeting Wednesday.