Bladen County commissioners work to secure funding for additional school resource officer

BLADEN COUNTY (WWAY) — The Bladen County Board of Commissioners is working with the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office to secure funding for a school resource officer.

Only 11 positions were funded through the county’s 2026-27 fiscal year budget due to the closure of a school.

The adopted county budget was intended to provide both East Bladen High School and West Bladen High School with two SROs, but school district leadership said funding challenges would require the elimination of the additional positions, keeping it at one per school.

Currently, Bladenboro Primary and Bladenboro Elementary share a single officer.

A School Safety Grant was awarded to Bladen County Schools to fund an additional position, but the school board announced Monday that an 11th position would not be accepted at this time.