Lafayette School Board Approves Hiring Security At Meetings

School resource officers in Lafayette Parish now also have the job of keeping order at the school board.

The Lafayette Parish School Board unanimously approved a new policy Wednesday that gives its president authority to request security at meetings. President Hunter Beasley said the board is one of the few public bodies that doesn't have security for when things get unruly.

"I cannot expect staff to...calm this (disruptive) person down, move them out of the building, whatever," Beasley said. "I don't expect board members to do that either."

Beasley said he expects an officer to be present at the board's regular meetings on the first and third Wednesdays of each month.

Paying a school resource officer $31 an hour for 24 meetings would cost the school system an estimated $3,720 annually, assuming those meetings last five hours each. That generally hasn't been the case in 2014, although meetings have been known to span that length of time or longer.