MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) faces new challenges from School Resource Officers (SROs) who say they will not report to work and will only participate in a jamboree if their demands are met. Now, local education officials are looking for a solution.
SROs, hired by Memphis-Shelby County Schools demand officer safety, pay raises, higher recruitment, and to revise policy violations.
"You have not only the football games that are coming up, but you have kids going to these schools, and short of an SRO being there, there's no telling what can happen," said Captain Bennie Cobb, owner of Eagle Eye Security and Training. "We know that law enforcement cannot cover all these schools."
According to a letter obtained by ABC24, SROs addressed the safety and security unit of MSCS, making a list of demands and outlining a plan not to report for duty on Friday, August 16.
Reverend Althea Greene, the Shelby County Board of Education Chair, said the officers' concerns are reasonable.
Greene wants SROs to know that the school administration understands their strain in protecting students daily and that everyone needs to recognize how much they contribute.
"First of all, we need to listen and talk with those officers," she said. "They are so crucial, so important to the work that we do. We need to listen to them. We need to respectfully, if there are things that they have asked for, if there's pay that they were supposed to get, then we need to honor those commitments."
The letter also states that SROs will not participate in the jamboree, an annual football scrimmage that has led to violence in past years, on Saturday.
Cobb provides training to SROs and says this letter likely stems from a much bigger problem.
"This seems to me that the system is going in reverse to what everybody else is doing," he said. "I think one of the biggest issues that they have is parenting pay, where the overtime is being cut or eliminated. You have to have overtime. Every staff member is showing that every law enforcement entity is paying millions and millions of dollars in overtime to supplement the manpower."
Greene believes a decision can be made by Wednesday, August 14, the deadline provided in the letter—one that will satisfy all parties.
"You don't want to wait until Thursday," she said. "You want to make sure that first thing Monday morning, hopefully over the weekend, this is a priority for the district. They've listed concerns, you know, safety, pay scale, hire more officers, pay, revise policy violations. They're all serious demands. They are asking for our attention and for us to address these concerns."
Greene said she would likely meet with MSCS Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins to assess their progress in meeting the demands of this letter.
Cobb tells me that if a solution is not reached and this escalates into a more significant strike, law enforcement will have to step in to fill the void.