By James Lomuscio
In a special meeting tonight, Westport’s Board of Education voted unanimously to fund a school resource officer (SRO) for this fall at Staples High School, via DARE officer funds.
The Board of Education meeting at Town Hall tonight. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) James Lomuscio for WestportNow.com
The school board also voted unanimously to ask the Board of Finance and the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) fund the cost of two additional SROs at the town’s two middle schools.
According to Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer, the per officer cost would be $160,057.
And by a vote of 4 to 2, with Mark Mathias and Karen Klein dissenting, the board agreed that the school system would allocate any unexpended funds from fiscal year 2018-19 and subsequent years to pay for up to 60 percent of the SRO cost.
Prior to the vote, Palmer said that public interest was high having trained officers on campuses in the wake of national school shooting and a February threat at Staples.
During that incident, police were called and the school was on lockdown after it was reported that one student was overheard saying he wanted to shoot a teacher and go on a school rampage.
“These (SROs) are essential for our district for the fall,” Palmer said. “…This is nonnegotiable.
“We’re late to the game of SROs,” she added, saying that Westport is the only district in its district reference group (DIRG) not to have officers on campuses. “As a principal, I had SROs 20 years ago.”
Palmer also cautioned that the school board “navigate these waters carefully” through the town’s funding bodies.
The school board will be presenting tonight’s votes, which were tweaked versions of Palmer’s funding recommendations, to the Board of Finance on Wednesday night.
Palmer had initially recommended that the schools pay 60 percent of the SRO cost, a suggestion that drew criticism from Mathias.
“I don’t think we should be funding the salaries of those officers,” Mathias said, adding that they are town employees and hired by the Police Department, even if they are assigned to schools.
“They are police officers, and that’s where the money should come from,” he said.
His comments garnered support.
“It has to be completely budgeted out of the town,” said board member Vik Muktavaram. “The notion of splitting it up does not make sense.”
In her recommendation prior to the vote, Palmer said that the town had received unanticipated educational cost sharing (ECS) state grants totaling $384,440 at the end of this school year.
She also said the town is slated to receive $472,954 next year in ECS grants, which could be used to offset the town’s operating budget “and could easily provide the 40 percent town share in this proposed scenario.”
The board decided otherwise and with input from Eileen Whitney voted on the three funding recommendations.
