Medina will add second school resource officer

Photo by Tom Rivers: Medina police officer Dustin Meredith assists Gabriella Burtwell, 5, of Medina in completing the bike rodeo course during National Night Out on Aug. 2, 2022. Meredith works as a school resource officer for Medina.

MEDINA – The Village Board has approved an agreement with the school district to have a second police officer working as a school resource officer this upcoming school year.

Dustin Meredith will continue as one of the school resource officers at the beginning of the school year. The second officer will start in November, said Todd Draper, the Medina police chief.

The position will be posted among the Medina Police Department. Draper said new three police officers will finish their field training in November. He wants to wait until then to assign a second officer to the school district so the department isn’t short-staffed.

The agreement calls for the school district to pay the village $80,000 for each officer to have a full-time presence at the school district, with the contract pro-rated to reflect the one officer starting later in the year.

Meredith will start on Sept. 2.

The contract is up from $75,000 this past school year.

The school district reached out to the village to see if more than one officer could be available at the school district, Draper said.

The Medina Police Department has had a school resource officer at the district for about 15 years. The Orleans County Sheriff’s Department has a deputy working as resource officers at Albion, Lyndonville and Kendall while Holley has a private firm providing security.

In another vote on Monday, the Village Board approved a bond resolution for $94,488 to pay for two new Tahoes as police vehicles.