More Columbus police cars are expected to be at Muscogee County schools. Here’s why.

More police cars are expected to be in Muscogee County School District parking lots.

It’s one of the benefits to the memorandum of understanding with the Columbus Consolidated Government that the school board unanimously approved this week.

The purpose is to connect the MCSD and CCG wireless networks. That will allow MCSD students and staff to use their network on their computer devices at all CCG buildings and vice versa.

The most visible benefit from this relationship probably will be Columbus police officers being able to file their reports from any MCSD location – and the presence of their cars would give those school or administrative buildings a free upgrade in security during that time.

“So that would mean they would be in our parking lots and in our facilities much more frequently,” MCSD chief information officer Ron Pleasant told the school board during this month’s work session.

Superintendent David Lewis called it a cost-effective way to increase police presence on school campuses.

“By the same token, we want to make sure parents are aware of this so they don’t see in front of a school three police cars and automatically assume some crisis is happening,” Lewis said.

This agreement isn’t part of the proposed upgrade to MCSD security that’s in superintendent David Lewis’ recommended fiscal year 2019 budget. The spending plan, if the board approves it in June, will put a full-time armed security guard on staff at each MCSD high school, starting next school year.

That recommended upgrade would add an estimated $801,720, including $351,720 in start-up costs, to the $2,133,871 MCSD currently allots for security, according to MCSD security director Scott Thomann, who presented the proposal during the board’s work session this month.

That increase in expenses would pay for boosting MCSD’s security staff from 17 part-time officers to 10 full-time officers and seven part-time officers with three additional positions. And if the board authorizes the administration to do so, MCSD will apply to become a limited jurisdiction police agency, Thomann said, just like the departments serving Columbus State University and Columbus Technical College.

But no immediate costs are associated with MCSD engaging in the wireless network agreement with CCG, Pleasant said. However, he added, the board would be asked to approve such a request if extra funding is necessary.

Chairwoman Kia Chambers, the nine-member board’s lone countywide representative, asked Pleasant whether MCSD is sure this new connectivity wouldn’t compromise the security of the district’s electronic data, especially concerning students.

Firewalls will be on both sides sharing the wireless traffic, Pleasant said, and the entities wouldn’t have access to each other’s information. “It simply would route their wireless traffic through our network and over to their network and vice versa,” he said.

This story was originally published April 19, 2018 at 7:55 AM with the headline "More Columbus police cars are expected to be at Muscogee County schools. Here’s why.."