Should Somerset add more police to schools? Town Meeting voters will decide on Monday
SOMERSET — Town Meeting voters will weigh whether to add up to three additional police officers to local schools at a special meeting on Monday.
A special town meeting is set for 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 17, in the Somerset Berkley Regional High School Performing Arts Center, 625 County St.
Several of the 15 articles on the warrant for Monday’s meeting deal with appropriating additional town money to respond to changes in collective bargaining agreements between town employees and the town. Other articles include measures like spending $25,000 for a vehicle and related equipment for the town’s animal control officer, $70,000 for a utility vehicle for the fire department and $106,000 to expand and repave the parking lot at the police station.
Four articles deal with school safety. One would have the town spend $50,000 of its free cash to hire a security and safety consultant firm to conduct a safety assessment of the Somerset Public Schools. A majority of the Advisory and Finance Committee voted to recommend this article.
Three other articles each ask whether the town should add an additional school resource officer from the police department to Somerset Public Schools.
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Currently, there is one member of the Somerset Police Department assigned to the district as a school resource officer, with another assigned to the regional high school.
Police Chief Todd Costa first raised the idea of increasing the town’s number of school resource officers this past spring, in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Last month, he proposed to the K-8 school committee that they start by adding one additional officer, meaning there would be two school resource officers to split their time between Somerset Middle School and the three elementary schools.
School committee member Victor Machado proposed instead that they add articles to the warrant that would allow them to add up to three new officers relatively quickly, instead of adding them gradually. If all three articles are approved, there would be an officer stationed in each school in the district.
Machado said at the Oct. 12 meeting that he personally wants to add just one additional officer ahead of a safety assessment and will vote against adding the third and fourth officer, but wanted town residents to have a chance to decide.
"I think the town should come together and say 'yes we want it,' or 'no, we don't want it,'" he said.
Each article would allow the town to spend up to $75,000 on a new school resource officer. Chair of the school committee Shauna Geary and superintendent of schools Jeffrey Schoonover both said they might ultimately have to spend more than that on each officer, since a yearly salary for a school resource officer is usually $78,000, equipment would likely cost $13,000 and new cruisers would cost $60,000 each.
Geary said she considered proposing to postpone the articles to add a third and fourth officer, citing concerns about the amount of money involved and a lack of clarity around whether guns would be stored in school buildings.
“I think people really need to slow down and look at this,” she said.
The Advisory and Finance Committee voted not to recommend any of the articles that would increase the number of police stationed in Somerset Public Schools. Several members told the school committee at an Oct 12 meeting that they believed an analysis was needed before invested in more school resource officers.
Teachers union opposed to adding more school police
The Somerset Teachers Association, the union representing educators in Somerset Public Schools, released a statement urging voters to oppose the three articles that would add more school police officers and to instead support the article to fund an analysis of schools’ safety needs.
The union said it fully supports the district’s current school resource officers but that there are also other ways the district can support student health and safety besides adding more officers to schools. The district should conduct a “holistic” review before making a serious investment in hiring and equipping three new police officers, the union said.
“SROs are one component of a comprehensive safety plan for our school. But there are other measures also needed to ensure a safe and respectful school setting,” the statement read in part.
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The STA said any analysis of school safety should include a review of what sort of staff is needed to best serve students.
“If Town Meeting is willing to hire personnel for our schools, let’s determine exactly what needs should be addressed with more staff. We can use funds to reduce class sizes, hire more counselors, and add programs to ensure that every student has opportunities to grow and succeed,” the statement read.
It should also include a review of the school district’s buildings, including “structural deficiencies and unhealthy conditions,” the union said.
“A comprehensive review of school safety must consider the ways in which students, staff and families could encounter health risks in our school buildings,” the statement read.
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Audrey Cooney can be reached at acooney@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Somerset special Town Meeting to weigh school police
