By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich-On Monday night the school board of trustees voted 7-0 to join in a contract with Atlas Township and the Genesee County Sheriff Office for a school resource officer. The first for the district.
On March 11, interviews for a school resource officer were conducted and GCSO Atlas Township Deputy Casey Seeley was selected. He will begin April 8 at a cost of $123, 341 of which the school will be responsible for 70 percent or $88,101 for a 21 month period of time.

Of that time 15 months will be in the school district.
The school district will now have an SRO for the remainder of the 2019 and the 2019-2020 school year.
Seeley is a 17 year veteran with the Genesee County Sheriff Office, and has served more than eight years in Atlas Township. He is a native the Caseville Area and a 1997 Atherton High School graduate.
“The first six month of your job will be networking and team building,” said Kurt Schulte, school board trustee. “With the staff, administration team, parents and students. I’m interested in what the building principals have for suggestions as we go along. In my opinion as one-seventh of the board, the position is just going to continue to evolve.”
I would agree, said Seeley.
“Initially, (I’ll continue to) build on the relationship I’ve already created,” said Seeley, who along with his family attended the Monday school board meeting. “With the students, (I’ll) get in there and meet as many as possible. It will evolve everyday, with the training and experience that I get as the SRO.”
As a parent of three Goodrich High School graduates, Schulte recognized the long term impact of the SRO in the district.
“During the life of this contract, let’s say we prevent one student from going down the wrong path,” he said. “It’s paid for itself. One kid, that’s the way I look at it. I feel very strong about that.”
Seeley agreed.
“I do too,” he responded. “The kids, I know a lot of them, but not as well as I’d like to. I want them to come to me and make that difference.”
Seeley will be in uniform while in the school district.
“I can stay part of the community (during the summer), I can stay out here patrolling during the summer months,” he said. “It’s a benefit for the community that other guys on the road with an extra car. In the summer call volume goes up. Plus, it allows me to continue relationships with the kids. I’m not gone for three months then starting over when the kids come back to school.”
Seeley will be in the district from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. school days.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Chip Shultz, board member and Oakland County Sheriff Deptuy. “Six years ago I talked to the superintendent regarding an SRO, it did not happen. I’m glad to see this position is filled. I look forward to reports.”
Prior to the Monday night vote, Tere Onica, Atlas Township Supervisor reported on Feb. 18 to the township board of trustees meeting the 30-70 percent split was fair given the time the deputy would serve in the school and township.
Onica also reported on the number of police calls over the past four months: (2018) Oct. 251; Nov. 271; Dec. 232 and (2019) Jan. 372.
Of those calls about 55 or 5 percent went to the Goodrich School District.
“That’s a total of 1,026 calls,” said Onica, during the board of trustees meeting. “They have a high volume of calls, sometimes more than others. There is a benefit to the township have a deputy on (duty). If we have someone on school he can handle those calls that could take away from our patrols. Generally they are not quick calls (either) they could be hours long, depending on the situation.”
The SRO will be added to the current sheriff contract with Atlas Township. Last December the Atlas Township Board of Trustees OK’d a new $599,780 two-year contract with the Genesee County Sheriff Department about a 2 percent increase over the previous amount of $586,777. The contract was effective Jan. 1, 2019 through Dec. 31, 2020 with the sheriff department and had included four deputies along with funding for a detective-sergeant, split between Fenton and the township.
The sheriff contract is funded by a 2.1 millage OK’d in May 2017, by township voters for police protection and 1 mill for the fire department. The five-year millage will generate an estimated $620,000 for the police services and $294,000 for the fire department
A township taxpayer with a $100,000 home pays about $105 per year for police protection.
The township will pay an additional $35,240 to the contract.