Apex school resource officer will follow students to temporary location

Apex police officers will continue watching over Apex High School’s 2,600 students during the next two years at a temporary location in Cary while the Apex school is demolished and rebuilt.

The state Senate on Thursday approved House Bill 55, which grants Apex police jurisdiction at the new Green Level High School building in Cary.

“It’s a great demonstration of the cooperation and collaboration between the towns of Apex and Cary,” state Rep. Gale Adcock said during the bill’s hearing Wednesday in committee. Adcock and Rep. Nelson Dollar, who represents parts of western and southern Wake County, were among the bill’s sponsors.

HB 55 passed the House unanimously in March and the Senate on Thursday in a voice vote. As a local bill, it becomes law immediately without the governor’s signature. It expires in July 2020.

Apex and Cary police worked together to get the bill introduced. Under the agreement, one Cary officer and one Apex officer will serve at Green Level High School starting next fall through the summer of 2019.

“The chief of police for Apex felt, and we agreed with him, that the students have a relationship with the SRO (student resource officer) from the school, and so he wanted to have that same SRO be with the student body at Green Level,” Marvin Connelly, chief of staff and strategic planning for Wake County schools, said at a June 6 school board meeting. “Of course it’s in a different jurisdiction, so there will actually be two SROs at that school next year. But they needed to deal with the jurisdictional issue. It’s in the best interests of students.”

Apex added an additional resource officer at the school at the beginning last year, saying the school was too large to be effectively patrolled by one officer.

“If one of our officers doesn’t go over there with the kids and staff, we lose two years of connectivity with that group,” Apex police spokeswoman Ann Stephens said. “These are still Apex kids, Apex families, and being able to maintain a relationship with students and staff who are coming back to our community after two years is critical.”

Staff writers Colin Campbell and Keung Hui contributed.

This story was originally published June 15, 2017 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Apex school resource officer will follow students to temporary location."