The policing of the Clearfield High parking lot this year has reduced crime, fights, truancy and many other problems, but school officials want to finance it differently next year so students don't have to pay $25 for a parking decal.
Tamara Lowe, Clearfield High principal, reported to the City Council on the success and future of the pilot program."We've been tremendously pleased," she said of the program, which hires off-duty police officers for $10 an hour to patrol the parking lot from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Lowe said there have been no car burglaries this year as compared to several in other years. In addition, no vehicles have been vandalized, and school attendance is up 3 percent or 4 percent. She said the number of fights has been cut in half.
"I think it's made a difference in the whole neighborhood to have a policeman around," Lowe said. "There are great positive feelings between the policemen and the students."
Lowe said she's not sure exactly how much the program will end up costing, but she estimates it will be around $15,000, with parking decal revenues falling short.
"We do not want to charge our students $25 again. That's a hardship on some," she said. The district's standard high school parking fee is $2.
Several high school in the south end of the county started a similar police patrol program shortly after Clearfield, but the Davis School District and local cities funded that program. Clearfield's City Council has been upset over the inequality of that financing.
"We have a feeling up here that the south end gets all the benefits," Councilman Don Orsmy said.
Lowe said she expects the school district to help finance Clearfield's program next year, but she is unwilling to let the program be changed in any way.
In addition, Lowe said she will ask Clearfield for an approximate $5,000 donation to next year's program. Syracuse may also be asked to help fund the program, since it also sends students to Clearfield High.
"We need to lobby for what you have already enjoyed," Neldon Hamblin, Clearfield mayor, said. "We should all buy into it."