Upper Saddle River latest Northern Highlands school district to beef up security
The Upper Saddle River grade school district is the latest among the four attending Northern Highlands Regional School District to elevate school security with an armed guard.
Class III special law enforcement Officer Philip Tangel was sworn in by Mayor Arman Fardanesh this month.
"The Upper Saddle River district has one retired police officer on staff, and the special law enforcement officer is now the second officer for the district," said Schools Superintendent Brad Siegel. The Upper Saddle River district is assuming the cost of the officer.
The swearing-in follows an uptick in armed school security hires in several districts. The Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School district voted in January to follow the lead of its three-grade school districts in approving a $115,200 Class III special law enforcement officer package for its two buildings in its 2024-2025 budget.
The Upper Saddle River 1,115-student district's three grade schools are clustered across the street from each other about 400 feet north of the borough police station on West Saddle River Road. They include the K-2 Robert Reynolds building, the adjacent grade 3-5 Edith Bogert building, and the grade 6-8 Emil Cavallini Middle School across the street.
Upper Saddle River grade school students attend Northern Highlands' Allendale campus along with students from Allendale with send/receive students from Ho-Ho-Kus and Saddle River. Security measures among those other schools include:
Northern Highlands: A Class III officer has been assigned to the 1,328-student school "for a few years," said Superintendent Scott Beckerman, but the salary was increased to $35 per hour under a resolution with the borough in August 2023.
Allendale grade schools: A Class III officer contract for the two-school, 914-student district was approved by the Borough Council in September 2022.
Ho-Ho-Kus grade school: Superintendent Diane Mardy said the 553-student, one-building district does not employ Class III officers. "We employ our own security personnel; he is a retired police officer who communicates with our borough Police Department but is not employed by them. This relationship works very well for us."
Saddle River grade school: Board of Education President Emily Kaufman said Tuesday that the board "has currently not requested the hiring of additional police services" for Wandell School, which serves 115 students in pre-K to grade 5. The police station, about 500 feet west of the building on East Allendale Road, "does a fabulous job providing security via walk-throughs, drills and arrival/dismissal traffic control."
RAMAPO INDIAN HILLS SECURITY Ramapo, Indian Hills high schools will be adding armed guards
In 2014, a New Jersey School Boards Association task force said a school resource officer was the "preferred model for a law enforcement presence in a school building." This was defined as a full-time police officer trained to protect children, staff and property in New Jersey public schools.
Because some districts could not afford a full-time officer who required health care and pension benefits, a Class III special law enforcement officer position was introduced in 2016. They are retired law enforcement officers under age 65 who had served as full-time police officers in New Jersey within three years of appointment, and who were trained as school resource officers.
Class III officers have full police powers and are permitted to carry firearms, but may be hired only in a part-time capacity, and they are prohibited from receiving pension or health care benefits.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Upper Saddle River NJ School District hires armed security officer
