Following approval from the Queen Creek Unified School District, the town will be looking at renewing agreements to provide two of the three high schools in Queen Creek with school resource officers.
At its Wednesday meeting, the Queen Creek Town Council will decide on whether to renew intergovernmental agreements with QCUSD to place school resource officers at Queen Creek High School and Crismon High School.
Although it is in the QCUSD, Eastmark High is located in Mesa.
The agreements, which must be renewed each year, are on the council’s consent agenda in which all items are acted on through one motion and vote.
“Through comprehensive prevention and intervention approaches, school resource officers maintain a visible presence on campus, deter delinquent and violent behaviors, serve as an available resource to the school community, and provide students and staff with law-related education instruction and training,” according to a staff report.
Under town policy, the school district must reimburse Queen Creek for 50% of operational costs and 75% for any new capital/one-time costs associated with officers assigned to campuses.
School Safety Program grants through the Arizona Department of Education will allow QCUSD to reimburse the town.
For the 2026-27 fiscal year, operational costs including base salary and benefits for the officer assigned to Queen Creek High would be $164,420, with QCUSD paying $82,210.
For the officer assigned to Crismon High, operational costs including base salary and benefits would be $156,676, with QCUSD paying $78,338.
Neither school has new capital expenses for the upcoming year for vehicles or related equipment.
The QCUSD Governing Board approved entering into the new agreements at its July 7 meeting.
The Queen Creek Town Council meeting starts at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday at Community Chambers, 20727 E. Civic Parkway.
Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
Janet Perez News Editor | Queen Creek &
San Tan Valley
Meet Janet Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.
Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.
Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science.
Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.
Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.
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