POLAND - Poland Township Police Chief Greg Wilson spoke before the Ohio Senate Tuesday afternoon in support of Senate Bill 318, meant to amend the Ohio Revised Code to specify that local police departments of non-home-rule communities may provide school resource officers to non-public schools.

A non-home-rule municipality means its powers are limited and bound by the Ohio Revised Code, which includes Poland Township.

In September, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost published an opinion that pointed out that the Ohio Revised Code does not expressly allow certain police departments to provide school resource officers to non-public schools, despite some having done so in the past.

"A non-home-rule township lacks authority to directly enter into a memorandum of understanding with a chartered non-public school to provide school resource officer services to the school," Yost said in an open letter.

A Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, is an agreement between two parties that establishes the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of a service. 

The Poland Township Police created an MOU with Holy Family School three years ago to provide a school resource officer, or SRO.

Wilson says the MOU is in the final year of its contract and allows for a constant safety presence for students and staff.

Wilson tells 21 News that the MOU with Holy Family School is still in effect, pending legislation, and the resource officer is still present at the school, but future MOUs may be in question unless Senate Bill 318 is codified into law.

"Ohio's children are our greatest assets; regardless of where they attend school, they deserve a learning environment where they feel safe and secure," he said in a statement to the Ohio Senate.

The Bill was written by Ohio Senator for the 33rd district Al Cutrona, who says that other non-home-rule municipalities had made similar MOUs with non-public schools in the past and hopes to codify it into law.

"All we're doing is allowing them to engage in these contracts, and of you go more into rural areas, that may be the only kind of law enforcement that can be readily available to provide those types of services," he said in a statement to the Ohio Senate Education Committee in a hearing on Feb. 10.