School security: not good enough

[Motoman]

My question is this: Do the tax payers of Plymouth have to fund this, or is this funded by XX?

[Dick Unger]

Federal "war on drugs" money will pay for at least part of a cop at any school. Many small towns have a "drug cop" who works part time at a school doing security and assemblies and passing out Tshirts about no drugs. The other half of their time is being a regular municipal police officer.

I don't like the mandatory "assemblies", it wastes hundreds of hours of student's time so the administation has something to put in the grant report to justify the grant each year. But, I do like the police officer's presence.....

[BRIT_in_the_weeds]

If it wasn't for Assembly, when would pubescent boys learn hymns like this-:


Jerusalem Hymn
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountain green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

The poem, which was little known during the century which followed its writing, was included in a patriotic anthology of verse published in 1916, a time when morale had begun to decline due to the high number of casualties in the First World War and the perception that there was no end in sight.

Under these circumstances, it seemed to many to define what Britain was fighting for. Therefore, Robert Bridges, the Poet Laureate asked Parry to put it to music at a Fight for Right campaign meeting in London's Queen's Hall. The aims of this organisation were "to brace the spirit of the nation that the people of Great Britain, knowing that they are fighting for the best interests of humanity, may refuse any temptation, however insidious, to conclude a premature peace, and may accept with cheerfulness all the sacrifices necessary to bring the war to a satisfactory conclusion"[3]. Bridges asked Parry to supply the verse with "suitable, simple music that an audience could take up and join in". Originally Parry intended the first verse to be sung by a solo female voice, but this is rare nowadays. The most famous version was orchestrated by Sir Edward Elgar in 1922 for a large orchestra at the Leeds Festival. Upon hearing the orchestral version for the first time, King George V said that he preferred "Jerusalem" over "God Save the King", the National Anthem.

Assembly also taught me (well, the seniors in primary school did) about the 3 kings, one in a taxi, one in a car, and one on a scooter beeping his hooter, smoking a fat cigar.

[David]

Since it's a private school, there are no tax dollars involved, unless of course the local PD is funding (or partially funding) the arrangement, which is certainly possible.

Public schools have access to a special levy called the "Safe Schools Levy," whereby they can levy the taxpayers in their district up to $27 per student per year for police liaison officers, security officers, cameras, card-access locks, and things like that. The "Safe and drug free schools" program is more of an educational thing, rather than a security thing.

And, as someone pointed out above, there are Federal grants (but not on-going programs) for police in schools. Lots of options here, but the funding really isn't enough to fully support an SRO in every high school and middle school/junior high.