NISKAYUNA, NY — Niskayuna Central School District is studying the potential return of its dormant school resource officer (SRO) program after a campaign from a group of town residents pressing to bring Niskayuna police back into district schools.
At the direction of the school board, the district is launching a comprehensive review of its safety and security plan to be conducted by a third party.
A petition to support an SRO program in the district has gathered over 1,000 signatures since launching on April 17, with advocates also placing yard signs throughout the town asking the district to adopt an SRO initiative in a bid to improve school safety.
A previous SRO program in the district was discontinued in 2008 due to financial considerations.
Superintendent Carl Mummenthey noted the district had bolstered its staff of counselors, psychologists and social workers.
"In the time since we discontinued that program, the district has made tremendous investments in a number of additional layers that we think support the safety and security of our students, staff and guests," he said on Friday.
Town Supervisor Jaime Puccioni said during Tuesday's Town Board meeting that she is in support of partnering with the district to develop and implement a SRO program.
"The work our police department has done over the past two years, making incredible strides with procedural justice and community policing, coupled with our efforts to recruit and retain a diverse group of officers, make us uniquely situated to embark on creating something new and dynamic that can support the needs of our school community," she said.
Puccioni recounted a personal story from her time teaching at a public school in California of how an SRO assisted her in the classroom to reach a student who had a difficult home life as an example of the effectiveness of SRO programs.
She said that she would recommend the potential SRO program collect data to study its effectiveness.
The town leader noted that she had already had conversations with Police Chief Jordan Kochan regarding potential police staffing and funding for the SRO program.
"We sent someone to training last year in anticipation of if the school board decided to collaborate with us on a program," Kochan explained on Wednesday. "So we are positioned well and we've been planning in case. We've had internal conversations. We're here and ready to collaborate, partner and support our district with whatever their needs are."
The chief said he could not pinpoint the exact numbers of police officers who would be made available to participate in the SRO program if the district decides to move forward.
"I think that would be a conversation that we'd all have to have on how the program would build out," he said. "Realistically, I think you've got to start small and then kind of build the program from there."
Niskayuna teacher and parent Jessica Jefts told the Town Board Tuesday night that her daughter was verbally threatened by another student during a December incident at Iroquois Middle School.
Jefts said she did not believe the district acted swiftly enough to address the incident, with the family contacting police regarding the threat.
Kochan confirmed on Wednesday that a police report had been filed in connection with the incident but could not provide further details as the matter involved a minor.
Jefts said she was calling on the school district to include funding for an SRO in its proposed 2024-2025 budget.
The proposed $110.7 million school budget was approved by the school board on April 16 and is set for a public vote on May 21.
Jefts noted that Niskayuna was among the select districts in the Capital Region without an SRO program.
"These other districts all see the value and importance of having a qualified and trained SRO in our buildings that build relationships, provide consistency of protocol and ensure safety," Jefts told the board.
During the school board's April 23 meeting, residents advocated for and against a potential SRO program.
"Adding an SRO program isn't defined solely by adding an armed police officer at the entrance of our schools, it's so much more than that," resident Philip Cafaro told the school board. "At its core, the program is going to develop relationships with children and strengthen relationships between the school, the police department and also the community."
The district weighed revitalizing its SRO program in 2018, with then-Superintendent Cosimo Tangorra Jr. recommending to the school board at the time that the district instead invest funding in hiring additional social workers and counselors.
Resident Katie Chow, Capital District group leader for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, told the school board that she was concerned about the introduction of armed officers into Niskayuna schools.
"Introducing guns into the school environment, even by well-meaning, well-trained SROs, by definition increases the odds of school violence," she said.
Schenectady City School District launched a pilot program in 2021 to bring a pair of community engagement officers into the district, with the school board approving a plan the next year to expand the program to six officers.
Puccioni's husband Marcus, who serves as the principal of Shaker High School in North Colonie, voiced his support for a Niskayuna SRO program at the school board meeting.
"Challenges faced by schools and school administrations are ever-evolving," he said. "From harassing online activity to swatting threats, school officials are faced with situations where they often benefit from the support of officers."
Mummenthey noted that the district has a safety and security plan in place for each of the district's eight schools that is developed in conjunction with the town police, fire and EMS departments. The plan is reviewed and updated each year by the district safety committee and school board.
"Over the course of the last month to two months, there's been considerable advocacy from the community for an SRO program and opposed to an SRO program," the superintendent said. "Our board has listened very carefully to that advocacy on both sides of that argument. We're being very careful not to reduce the discussion on school safety to a single issue like SROs."
___
(c)2024 The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, N.Y.
Visit The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, N.Y. at www.dailygazette.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
