LEBANON — The Lebanon School District will retain its school resource officer next school year, despite a push from a faction of school board members to discontinue funding of the position.

At an all-day meeting on Saturday to discuss next year’s school budget, the School Board rejected a motion, by a 5-3 vote, that would have removed funding for a school resource officer from the proposed budget for the 2023-2024 school year.

The question of whether to staff a police officer in Lebanon school buildings has been the source of divide between community members for much of the year.

In April the school board voted 5-4 to authorize a new agreement for a school resource officer with the Lebanon Police Department. This officer works in collaboration with school administrators and other staff to reduce or prevent school-related violence or crime, with duties that include intervening in altercations and de-escaltating aggression or conlficts involving students or adults.

But many Lebanon residents still object to the program saying that stationing police officers in schools creates an intimidating environment for many students and increases the level of active policing in schools.

“it’s not just students of color, it’s (also) students with disabilities and students with parents who have had negative interactions with police and other vulnerable students who have reason to be fearful of having a police officer in the schools,” resident Kahleen Beckett during the meeting’s public forum.

District Social Worker Miranda Collins, in a letter read by a school administrator to the board, spoke positively of her collaboration with the school resource officer this year, saying that the officer has accompanied her on home visits to meet with students and families and provides valuable information regarding school safety practices.

School principals told the board that they feel more comfortable having a police officer who understands the students when responding to an student-related incident than another officer in the police department.

In March, Lebanon voters passed an article, 811-650, to eliminate the school resource officer position, after successfully adding the article to the school warrant by petition. Lebanon also approved the same warrant article the previous year, though by only five votes that time.

But the article was nonbinding, meaning that it has no authority to direct the school board’s actions.

Patrick Adrian may be reached at (603)727-3216 or at padrian@vnews.com.