School safety gets a familiar face in four Belmont County schools
Commissoners approve SRO contracts
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- As students prepare to return to school, the Belmont County Board of Commissioners and Belmont County Sheriff's Office are focusing on student safety.
The board approved four motions Wednesday morning that will place School Resource Officers in four Belmont County schools during the 2026-27 school year.
The first motion approved a School Resource Officer contract between Belmont-Harrison Joint Vocational School District, the Belmont County Sheriff's Office and the commissioners.
The school will reimburse the county $32.62 per hour, including wages, benefits, uniforms and a body-worn camera, for up to 200 eight-hour days of service.
The second motion approved a contract between Bellaire High School, the Sheriff's Office and the commissioners for a School Resource Officer during the 2026-27 school year.
The school will reimburse the county $38 per hour, including wages, benefits, uniforms and a body-worn camera, for up to 200 eight-hour days of service.
The board also approved a School Resource Officer contract between the Sheriff's Office, Switzerland of Ohio School District and the board for the 2026-27 school year.
The school will reimburse the county $32.34 per hour, including wages, benefits, uniforms and a body-worn camera, for up to 200 eight-hour days of service.
Lastly, the board approved a School Resource Officer contract between Bridgeport Exempted Village School District, the Sheriff's Office and the board for the 2026-27 school year.
The school will reimburse the county $31.94 per hour, including wages, benefits, uniforms and a body-worn camera, for up to 200 eight-hour days of service.
Sheriff James Zusack said the four contracts are essentially the same, with Bellaire's costing a few dollars more per hour.
"That's because that's a full time position in the sense that when the deputy is not working in the school, the deputy will be placed on the road to do road duties," Zusack said. "The other resource officers, if the school is off, like summer breaks, snow days, and holidays they’re off work but they get paid all year round. It’s just calculated so that they get paid all year round even though they’re not in school."
He added that the Bellaire position is covered by his office's union, which also causes the hourly wage to fluctuate.
Zusack said his office provides deputies in schools, a practice he believes works well.
"They do a great job with the kids and the schools love to have those deputies in the schools with them," Zusack said. "It’s all about safety for the kids and building relationships with the kids and our deputies in the schools. It’s just a really good thing."
Commissioner J.P. Dutton said the motions typically are approved around this time each year as students prepare to return to school.
"It’s a continuation of the work that’s done by the sheriff’s office. They should get the credit for the work that they do with each of the schools that they end up entering into contract with," Dutton said. "From our perspective, it’s been a really good working relationship between the county, specifically the sheriff’s office and, and school districts to provide needed protection that unfortunately, has become more and more of a priority in this day and age and with our local schools."
Dutton said he is looking forward to a great upcoming school year for local students.
"The county wants to continue to be a partner for school districts, not on just this issue, obviously, but on other issues where there can be partnerships in place," Dutton said.
Zusack added that he believes the partnership is a win-win.
"The longer the resource officers are there they get to know the kids and they can see if kids are acting differently at some points and they can talk to them," Zusack said. "And then it’s always good to have an armed person that's right there on scene, that means a lot."
He added that the resource officers can also serve as a deterrent if someone is considering doing something horrific.