Oconee sheriff and educators want to add additional staff to schools after Apalachee shooting

Oconee County Sheriff James Hale and County Schools Superintendent Jason Branch will begin working on a plan to place liaison officers at all 12 Oconee County schools.

The decision for the superintendent to participate in the talks was approved Monday evening at a meeting of the Oconee County School Board.

School Board President Kim Argo subsequently issued a statement saying this was a significant step with implications for every single school.

Safety at school: After the shooting at Apalachee High School, the school superintendent is pushing for more funding for security

The school system’s decision to look for a way to provide security at each school arose from the Sept. 4 violence that rocked nearby Apalachee High School in Winder, where a shooting spree left two teachers and two students dead. Nine others were injured. A 14-year-old student was arrested.

Hale said work on such a school safety plan began before the Apalachee tragedy.

“It’s not going to happen at the push of a button. It’s not possible, especially because of the workforce,” he said on Tuesday. “We’re going to get things done the right way, and it probably won’t be the fastest way, but we’re working determinedly toward that.”

“I took two people who were interested in the job and assigned them a position. We have one at Oconee (County) High School and one at North Oconee.”

The sheriff said, “It’s our duty to do it right and make sure we send qualified people to these schools. You have to train the right person to do it right.”

Hiring officers for law enforcement duties is a problem for many agencies. Hale noted that his patrol division is down five officers.

Branch also issued a statement saying that the relationship between the school system and the sheriff’s office has “always been strong.”

This article originally appeared in the Athens Banner-Herald: Oconee school superintendent gets OK to talk about SRO program in schools