Dorchester 2 wants police in all elementary schools, but who will pay?

Dorchester 2 School District Superintendent Joe Pye wants police officers in all 12 district elementary schools, not just the ones in North Charleston.

North Charleston decided Thursday to put police in all elementary schools in the city, including four Dorchester 2 schools. But the district has eight more outside the city limits, and police are costly.

“Whatever it takes, we are not going to have four schools protected and eight not,” Pye said this week, indicating he would seek funding from Summerville and the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office.

But the town, and the sheriff, have money concerns as well, and police for eight schools could cost $500,000 or more yearly.

“Everybody’s budget is short,” said Dorchester County Sheriff J.C. Knight.

Summerville Mayor Bill Collins also said funding would be a problem.

“We’re not quite as flush as brother Summey down there in North Charleston, so we’re going to have to figure out what to do about it,” the mayor said.

North Charleston’s cops-in-schools initiative followed the killing of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school, by a lone gunman with an assault weapon, on Dec. 14.

Read more in upcoming editions of The Post and Courier.