Trending
ELKINS -- The Randolph County Commission has approved a contract extension with the Randolph County Board of Education and one of the county's Prevention Resource Officers.
The county currently has three PRO officers in the county, including Deputies Rocky Hebb, Daniel Pennington and Ethan Carr. Hebb is stationed at Tygarts Valley High School during school hours, while Pennington spends his days at Elkins Middle School and Carr at Elkins High School.
Hebb and Pennington were the first to be hired in the county as PRO officers in 2021, and are on separate contracts than Carr, who was added as a third officer in early 2023. Carr's contract was up for renewal and RCSO Sheriff Rob Elbon came before the commission to ask for the extension to be approved.
"It is the time of year again when we partner with the Board of Education for our PRO officer program," Elbon told Commissioners Cris Siler, David Kesling and Chris Siler. "They funded two of our officers initially and then they picked up Ethan (Carr) for Elkins High School. They are in separate contracts that we have to deal with and they (BOE) have already done their part and signed their portion of it.
"Rocky and Danny are on a different grant cycle and their contract is separate because they started before Ethan did. They hit at different times and this time around it was time to renew Ethan's contract."
Elbon said before bringing the extension to the commission, he met with BOE officials to discuss the contract.
"It was just a renewal of what we already have and it seems like the entire school board is happy with the work they are doing," said Elbon. "They support it and think that it's a great program to have in our schools."
Kesling asked Elbon if this contract was for half of Carr's salary while he was working as a PRO officer.
"The contract is for where they (BOE) pay half the salary," Elbon said. "We provide all the equipment, training and manpower, while they help with the salary."
Elbon said at the end of the school year, each of the three deputies return to their regular duty with the Sheriff's Office.
"They come back to us and usually because of some of the extra stuff they've done throughout the school year, where they work ball games and stuff like that, there's always a little comp time they have accumulated," Elbon said. "So when school ends, those guys usually use some of that time and take off as a vacation before they get back into it with us."
Elbon said the PRO officers have to update their training each year for the work they do in the schools. He added they typically start back with the schools in early August.
"Our PRO officers have a great rapport with the students in the county," said Elbon. "Not only do they do a lot of stuff with the kids while they are in school, but they also do a lot of extracurricular things after school hours."
The three commissioners approved the contract extension unanimously.