Board member urges multi-year plan to address SRO shortages in Danville CCSD 118

Mister Easton, a member of the Danville CCSD 118 Board of Education, urged the board on Thursday to develop a multi-year plan to address a shortage of school resource officers (SROs) covering the district.

"We only have 3, school resource officers, and none of them are assigned to our elementary schools," Mister Easton said, describing a district that serves about "4,900 students" across multiple high schools, an alternative academy, a middle school and six elementary buildings. He said the current arrangement leaves SROs "stretched very thin" and often responding reactively rather than being embedded in individual buildings.

Easton cited planning guidance from the National Association of School Resource Officers that suggests one SRO per building or roughly one SRO per 1,000 students as a planning benchmark. He said the district's three officers rotate among buildings, which limits relationship-building and could lengthen emergency response times.

Easton acknowledged budget realities and said the district cannot fund a full-time SRO in every building immediately. "We don't have the money at the moment," he said, but argued the board should not "quietly accept" the staffing shortfall. He asked the board to pursue joint public planning with city leaders and the police chief to develop a realistic multi-year approach.

Board members noted that the district pays portions of SRO salaries and that the arrangement is subject to local budget constraints. The board did not take a formal vote on a staffing plan during the meeting; chair Mister Hart said the matter will be part of ongoing planning discussions.