Sheriff's Office Creates School Resource Department

FLEMING ISLAND — When the Department of School Safety and Youth Programs staff met Thursday, June 27, three of the eight staff sergeants and lieutenants were conspicuously dressed in suits and ties instead of the sheriff's office's khaki greens.

That all changed three days later, on July 1, when they officially moved from the Clay County School District Police Department to the Clay County Sheriff's Office.

The three men — former CCSDPD Chief Kenneth Wagner, Jacob Saunders and Mark Romano — are part of the sheriff's office's organizational staff. Wagner is a lieutenant, Saunders and Romano are sergeants.

The other department chiefs are Director Patrick Golemme, Deputy Chief Jeremy Clark, Lieutenant Michael Kircher and Sergeants Michael Campbell and Andrew Koeler.

“The culture of our agency, the morale of our agency, is really driven by the sergeants and lieutenants, period,” Sheriff Michelle Cook said. “And I’m excited to watch this group because I know the kind of people you are. I know your personality, your ability to stay positive, to empower people and to work with all the young members of our agency.”

“So you’re talking about the kind of agency we want to be in five, ten, fifteen years, and that’s here in this room with all of you. I don’t want you to forget the impact you’re going to have on people’s lives.”

The CCSO officially assumed responsibility for placing a deputy in every public school on July 1. The school board decided in 2019 to create a police force in response to the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Last October, board member Erin Skipper suggested the district use the sheriff’s office because “we’re in the education business, not law enforcement.”

In November, the school board voted to disband its police department and return CCSO officers to its schools. The sheriff's office hired 25 of the district's former police officers.

Teachers will return to their classrooms on August 5, and students' first day of school will be August 13.