COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Columbus Police have discontinued the high school resource officer program with Columbus City Schools.

The police department announced Monday the 3-year contract with the school district expired on June 30, and there is no new contract in place.

The program employed 20 high school resource officers and two sergeants. The resource officer positions will be eliminated, a department spokesperson said.

Columbus Police Chief Tom Quinlan has provided 70-day notices to these officers and sergeants which is required in the current collective bargaining agreement.

“I have the duty to ensure proper distribution of personnel and without a contract in place, I am required to assign the officers to a position that is operational and essential,” Quinlan said in a statement.

The department has a separate 1-year contact with the Worthington City School District.  One officer is assigned to Worthington Kilbourne High School and will remain in that assignment.

The Columbus City School District released the following statement Monday afternoon:

The Columbus Board of Education announced in June that it is creating a Safe Schools Working Group, which will include a broad range of stakeholders, to evaluate the safety and security program in Columbus City Schools, including the District’s relationship with the Columbus Police Department. The working group, which has yet to be seated, is expected to provide recommendations to the Board of Education in November.

When school is in session and in person, School Resource Officers had been stationed in CCS high school buildings. The District’s initial reopening plans, presented last Tuesday to the Board of Education, call for all CCS high school students to attend school completely remote for at least the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year.

Columbus City Schools