Published online: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015
POULSBO — North Kitsap School District is bringing back a school resource officer after being without one for about five years because of budget constraints.
“We didn’t make a choice to not have school resource officers because we didn’t think they were valuable, we had hit a budget clip like all the other schools did,” Assistant Superintendent Chris Willits said.
Bremerton school resource officer Matt Strombach, of the Bremerton Police Department, talks about his role at the school as students head for their classes after lunch period Tuesday at Bremerton High School. (Meegan Reid / Kitsap Sun)
The district had two of the officers at one point — from the Poulsbo Police Department and the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office.
When the district couldn’t help pay for the positions, the city wasn’t able to fully fund the Poulsbo police officer it was helping cover, said Mayor Becky Erickson.
Now, the district and city are able to split the cost of a resource officer again.
The officer will be available by next school year and will primarily be stationed at North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, while assisting at other schools, including Kingston High School, said Poulsbo Councilwoman Connie Lord.