In what has become almost commonplace in the modern political environment, a squabble between the Surry County Board of Education and the Pilot Mountain Board of Commissioners has spilled onto social media.
The bickering this time is over the absence of a School Resource Officer at Pilot Mountain Elementary School — or more specifically, whose fault it is that no such officer is budgeted for the upcoming school year.
In a lengthy Facebook statement posted Sunday evening, Surry County school board member T.J. Bledsoe recounted the joy he and fellow board members felt earlier this year, when the Surry County Board of Commissioners approved local funding for four School Resource Officers, or SROs, which would put one in every county school.
“Well, except for one, Pilot Mountain Elementary,” his post states.
That county funding approval came this spring, and as Bledsoe said, would have put a SRO in every school. He went on to say that even as the county schools have had to cut expenses and run “things as lean as possible” the system has still managed to keep SRO funding in place.
He went on to explain the county schools last year gave $20,000 each to Dobson and Pilot Mountain to help pay for SROs in town elementary schools, with the understanding that was a one-time disbursement from unused grant funds and could not be duplicated.
Dobson officials have opted to continue funding the position, at Dobson Elementary School, while Pilot Mountain has not.
Bledsoe concludes his post by asking others to share the post “and let’s get all of the students in our county the protection they deserve.”
A colleague on the county school board jumped in on the effort, but mostly with a swipe at town officials.
School board member Tony Hutchens posted “To all the parents in the Pilot Mtn. area. Please speak with your town officials about not funding their SRO officer. Seems that Arts (sic) and entertainment are more important than your children.”
Pilot Mountain Mayor Evan Cockerham responded with a Facebook post of his own, although by mid-morning Monday it appeared to have been removed.
In that posting, he said the full cost of an officer was difficult for the town of roughly 1,500 people to bear, and that he is hopeful Pilot Mountain will be successful in its bid for a federal COPS grant. That grant, if awarded to the town, would pay 75% of the cost of a resource officer at Pilot Mountain Elementary School, enough for the town to fund the rest of position.
He expressed hope the funding would be in place this year, although probably not before school begins next month.
While the Facebook spat seemed to focus on funding priorities and who should pay the bill, earlier this year when the Pilot Mountain Board of Commissioners approved its $4.6 million budget, town officials indicated losing the SRO position at the elementary school was another ripple of an ongoing police department scandal. Last autumn Police Chief Robbie Jackson resigned and several others in the department lost their jobs — including former Chief Daryl Bottoms, who was still working as a part-time officer — in the midst of a fraud investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation.
That probe, now in the hands of the North Carolina Department of Justice, along with an investigation by the Department of Labor, is still active.
Since then, Mayor Cockerham has said the town is working to rebuild its police force, a lengthy process given that it takes time to find and train officer candidates. He said earlier this year that Interim Police Chief Adam Tilloston has made a priority to have one of the on-duty officers make regular visits to the school while it is in session.
During those discussions earlier this year, town commissioner Scott Needham emphasized that the school has a panic button and is close to the police department.
“It is the closest school to the police department. I think it would take less than a minute for an officer to be over at the school if there was a situation where an officer was needed.”
Attempts to get more comment from Mayor Cockerham Monday were not successful.
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