By James Lomuscio
Westport’s Board of Education voted unanimously tonight to return $275,541 in unexpended funds to the town in the hopes that the money will pay for two additional school resource officers (SROs) this fall.
The Board of Education in session tonight at Town Hall. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) James Lomuscio for WestportNow.com
Only Staples High School will have an SRO funded from the DARE program, which is being phased out. The Board of Finance on July 11 denied a request for $320,000 to add two SROs to the middle schools.
Tonight’s vote at the request of Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer aims to change that. She said the move was designed “to find a way to jump start the initiation of SROs.”
Still, there is no guarantee the school’s giveback would go for the trained police officers, who are hired by the town, not the school system.
Palmer also said she had learned from Gary Conrad, the town’s business administrator, that the cost of the two officers would be closer to $260,000, considering nine months for the academic year.
The Board of Education’s giveback to the town comprises $124,336 of unexpended funds from two previous years, plus $151,205 from $401,205 left over from academic year 2017-18.
The school board is requesting Board of Finance approval to put the remaining, unexpended $250,000 into its carry-over account. The finance board will vote on the matter Wednesday, Aug. 1.
“I’m looking for a way to offer funding, so we can begin to offer the SRO program in the coming year,” Palmer said.
If the finance board still remains unsupportive, Palmer said she will take the matter to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM).
“If the actions of the Board of Finance change any of that, the (school) board will act accordingly and go to the RTM,” Palmer said before tonight’s meeting.
The RTM would need a super majority (70 percent) vote to overturn the finance board’s action.
Finance board members at the July 11 meeting said they were leery of hiring SROs due to the long-term costs; a couple said it could add up to $20 million over the years.
Palmer, who has been requesting the addition of school resource officers since last fall, has repeatedly pointed out that Westport is the only school system in its DIRG (district reference group) not to utilize them.
Calling them paramount to student safety, she said she would cut any other program before cutting SROs.
According to Elio Longo, school business manager, the district soon will receive more than $535,000 in a welcome insurance payout from AIG due to a faulty system that resulted in the need for mold remediation at Coleytown Middle School.
That money could go into the carry-over account and, Palmer said, fund two resource officers for two years.
