With help from the City of Renton, the Renton School District is ramping up its safety and security plan once again.

This year the school district is staffing a school resource officer or police officer at Renton High School, sharing the funding with the City of Renton. The district plans to staff two additional high schools with resource officers consecutively for the next two years. Previously, the former school resource officer program was funded by a grant that expired last year.

“Safety and security of schools is important to the Renton School District, the City of Renton and all citizens,” said Randy Matheson, district spokesperson, in an email. “Both the district and the city are willing to fund a program that works to keep schools safe.”

The school district is also in the process of hiring a safety and security manager. This new position should be staffed in the next week or so, according to district officials.

Last August, the Renton School Board approved recommendations from a safety and security audit designed to “help keep schools safe and better prepared for emergencies and natural disasters,” a district release stated.

The months-long review was conducted by The Crocker Group, which included on-site walk-throughs of every school, interviews with principals and staff, an online survey answered by more than 1,000 parents and community members, reviews of current plans and meetings with school staff, citizens and local law enforcement leaders.

So are Renton schools safe?

“Renton schools are safe,” said John Knutson, in an email.

Knutson is the assistant superintendent of finance and operations for the district.

“We have an active staff of school and district safety officers and maintain a close relationship with local law enforcement agencies,” he said. “The district had a safety and security manager several years ago, but that position was cut as a result of budget reductions. We now have an opportunity to enhance the district’s safety and security program by providing a manager who can focus on planning, supervision, training and professional development, coordinating with local law enforcement agencies, and supporting the building principals in the many aspect of school safety and security.”

Some of the key recommendations that came out of the safety and security audit were:

• Advance district-wide protocols and strategies for keeping students and staff safe at school;

• Develop and implement a training program for district and school safety personnel ;

• Standardize procedures for school emergency drills;

• Standardize the procurement, storage, monitoring, replenishment of school emergency preparedness supplies;

• Implement a district-wide key-card access process to keep schools secure, but accessible, during the school day; and

• Implement a pilot project with spaces in school buildings for local law enforcement officers.

The SROs will work under the guidance of the district’s safety managers.

Last year the district and the City of Renton created the Adopt-A-School program that works to foster a relationship between Renton Police officers and school staff.

“Renton Police are quick to respond to any 911 calls or non-emergency calls made by a principal or other school staff,” said Matheson. “An SRO program is a more formal contract that includes a funding responsibility that assigns a highly trained police officer to a school district for work that includes building relationships with staff and students.”

“We are very pleased to partner with the Renton School District to provide School Resource Officers in our schools,” said Mayor Denis Law. “Having an actual police officer in the schools, working directly with teachers and administrators and interacting with the students, makes a huge difference and reassures parents that their kids are safe.”

According to Knutson, the district’s portion of the funding for the officers is $75,000 per year, per officer. After all three officers are onboard by January 2016, the total cost will be $225,000 annually for the three officers.

The district isn’t sure yet how it will phase in the other two officers at Lindbergh and Hazen.