The Peru Gazette

By Marque Moffett

On May 15th, when Peru Central School District voters approved the 2018-19 school budget, they approved a budget that included the expenditure of up to $80,000 to hire a School Resource Officer. What does this mean for the community? It means our school administrators can move forward with plans to hire an active duty Sheriff’s Deputy to work full-time on school grounds. 

The idea of hiring a School Resource Officer, or SRO, was first brought to the school board by Dr. Thomas Palmer, a self-described “safety guy” who took on the role of Superintendent of Peru CSD on January 2^nd of this year. In the wake of several high-profile mass shootings, including one that occurred in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the Board of Education approved the position and worked with school officials to fund an SRO for the 2018-2019 school year. 

Funding challenges

In a year when the district is facing an estimated $1.6 million increase in healthcare premiums, funding a new position was a challenge. Demonstrating their commitment to bringing an SRO to Peru, board members approved several cuts to staffing and programming, but kept the new SRO position in the budget. It is possible that up to $50,000 could be recouped from the state via a piece of legislation known as S7811A, which would establish a School Resource Officer Program and would also establish an SRO aid program to reimburse school districts outside the city of New York $50,000 for the hiring of an SRO. 

Having already been passed in the State Senate, Bill S7811A is now in the hands of the Education Committee of the NY State Assembly, which will not meet again until the new Assembly convenes in January 2019. Asked during an interview whether the district would undertake any advocacy for the bill, Dr. Palmer urged community members to call our legislators to voice their opinions, saying, “The greatest supporters in our district are the parents, the tax-payers…Voters and taxpayers have a lot of power.” Dr. Palmer is hoping community members will use that power to help the school defray the costs of hiring an SRO. 

Role of SRO

Since gaining the approval of voters, the Peru CSD superintendent and administrative team have been working with Sheriff Favro and other members of the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department to finalize contractual language and to identify a deputy that best fits the needs of our district. 

In finding a good match for our needs, Dr. Palmer and his team are looking for some key characteristics. First and foremost, the district wants an SRO who can build relationships with students of all ages and who can be a trusted resource for them on campus. Emphasizing this point, Dr. Palmer stated, “Our SRO is not intended to be a “gotcha” for kids. It’s to help support kids. It’s about respect and it’s about building those relationships and hopefully, we don’t ever have to have a situation.”

Second, the district is looking for an SRO who can be a good partner to the district’s faculty, staff, and administrators by serving as a member of the district’s safety team and providing a law enforcement perspective as emergency response plans and safety protocols are reviewed and updated.

Finally, the district wants an SRO on site in the event of an emergency. Because the SRO will be a full-time, active-duty police officer, he/she will be armed while working on campus. In describing this, Dr. Palmer emphasizes, “The SRO is not a hired gun. It’s not with that intent. It’s another resource. It never hurts to have another person. We want kids to be making good choices.”

Overall, Dr. Palmer wants community members to know the motivation for hiring an SRO is “much more than just the end result of having someone on staff that would have to handle a difficult situation. We’re trying to be proactive and prevent rather than reactive. We want people to feel their children are safe.”

Once hired, our SRO will be a Clinton County Sheriff’s Deputy working in partnership with our school district. The SRO will be a resource for all grades, will have an office in one of the school buildings, and will report directly to our Superintendent, Dr. Palmer, for all school-related business. 

Dr. Palmer anticipates that the SRO will be hired early enough that he/she can spend a few days on campus this month before students return in September. Community members will be notified via social media and on the school’s website when the hiring process is complete. Additionally, Dr. Palmer would like to schedule a town hall meeting to provide parents and community members an opportunity to meet and talk with the SRO in the early weeks of the school year. 

Individuals interested in speaking with our representative in the NY State Assembly about this issue should contact Assemblyman Billy Jones at 518-562-1986. Community members can also reach out to members of the NY State Assembly Education Committee by following links from the committee’s website: http://nyassembly.gov/comm/?id=12.