Wilson approves sheriff's office SROs

Jacob Fries, Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, N.Y.
·2 min read

Aug. 17—The Wilson School District has reached an agreement with the Niagara County Sheriff's Office to provide a school resource officer for the coming school year.

School Superintendent Timothy Carter said the funding for the officer was allocated with a budget modification from the Niagara County Legislature, and the service agreement was approved by the Wilson School Board during its meeting on Aug. 9.

"There's an expectation that by Sept. 1 there will be an SRO in place for the 2022-2023 school year," Carter said.

The Wilson Central School District held a public forum in June for the school board and members of the public to ask questions of Sheriff Micheal Filicetti and other SROs employed through the sheriff's office on how this arrangement would work.

Filicetti has said that a candidate who applied for the position has been lined up to be the SRO for the Wilson Central School District, but would still need a final approval for the school board before they can be announced. He did, however, say that the candidate is a resident of Wilson.

"It looks like we're going to be selecting a deputy who actually resides in Wilson that will be the SRO at the Wilson District," said Filicetti. "But we're still going to have that discussion with the district to make sure that the candidate is who they would like."

This SRO would work for 10 months of the year, from September through June, as the SRO at the school, and would spend the two summer months of July and August working in the sheriff's Marine Division.

Filicetti has also said that SRO appointments are similarly in progress for the Starpoint Central School District and Niagara Charter School. Starpoint has already reached a service agreement with the sheriff's office, and Filicetti said that the deal with Niagara Charter School is likely in its final stages. Both of these are full-year agreements, and similarly to Wilson, their choices will need the final approval from the boards of both schools.

The sheriff's office is planning on making public its decisions for the SROs over the next few weeks before the school year starts.

"I want everybody to know that we're seeing school safety as a high priority, and it's a part of a good partnership that we keep the schools safe," Filicetti said.

Carter said that he's satisfied with the cooperation that has been shown by the sheriff's office, and looks forward to working with them further.

"Working with them has been seamless. They have been easy to work with, and I think it's going to be a great partnership moving forward," he said.

The Royalton-Hartland School District was also seeking an SRO through the Middleport Police Department.