Board of Ed KO's Adding 2nd Officer at Greenwich High

This story was posted by Barbara Heins. It was reported by Sue Rogers and written by Barbara Heins.

The Greenwich Board of Education has rejected a plan to add a second school resource officer (SRO) to Greenwich High School.

District officials have been working with Greenwich Police since the Dec. 14 massacre at the Sandy Hook School in Newtown to improve security at Greenwich's 15 schools and the administration building. 

By a vote of 2-6, the board rejected the district's administration's proposal to add another SRO to the 2,800-student high school and the district's three middle schools. Adding a second SRO has been on the district's radar since December. Earlier this month the Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation approved a $1.4 million appropriation to improve school security. Part of that security plan was to include the police department and school district agreeing to financing the hiring of a second SRO.

It was not immediately clear late Thursday what other impacts the April 25 education board's vote will have. Democrats Nancy Kail and Adriana Ospina voted in support of the second SRO proposal.

Superintendent William McKersie said, "The superintendent's team will work with (Police) Chief (James) Heavey on ways to bolster and support Officer (Carlos) Franco to make sure that the role is secure."

Franco has been assigned as the SRO at GHS since 2007, when the SRO program was first implemented. He is credited with resolving the reported weapons incident on April 11 that prompted a lockdown of the high school and a large-scale police response.

Heavey said, "We will keep working to do the best we can. SROs are usually rotated out after four years. Carlos is past that and realistically has a year or two left. We want to train and mentor potential, future SROs while they can still learn successful methods from him."

Following the meeting, Board of Education Chair Leslie Moriarty said in an email, "I am very supportive of the SRO program at the high school and appreciative of the important role of the Greenwich Police Department in the student safety.  Our program is a model of success."

Moriarty added, "However, I could not support expansion of the program at this time for several reasons. First, I still have a lack of clarity in expectations, roles and responsibilities for a second full time SRO who would focus on the middle school level. The issues at those schools are different than at our large high school and the Administration should explore alternative ways to have school staff work with the GPD to provide the benefits of a second SRO at a lower cost. I would be supportive of revisiting the concept at a future date if the Administration and the GPD believe the needs of our students are not being met."

The PTA Council, comprised of representatives of each of the PTA's in the district, voiced support of hiring a second SRO.
Lisa Harkness, First VP of Council

"PTA Council is in support of an additional School Resource Officer because of our confidence in three entities. The first is the Greenwich Police Department, especially their work with Tom Bobkowski and the administration," said Council First Vice President Lisa Harkness. "The second is the mental health and administrative staff at Greenwich High School, which have maximized the value of the SRO role. The third is Carlos Franco. We have never heard a negative word about him, and believe that if he can mentor another officer almost as suitably skilled as himself, our secondary schoolchildren will benefit, including educationally."

This is a developing story. Check back with Patch for updates.