By JEFF MORRIS
A group of Increase Miller Elementary School parents returned to the Katonah-Lewisboro Board of Education meeting Dec. 19 to continue to advocate for a full-time school resource officer.
Six parents again spoke in support of an armed SRO.
The parents had initially presented their case during public comment on Nov. 7, and then again on Nov. 21. They contended that given the increasing commonality of school shootings, having an armed officer stationed at the school was the only way to ensure a timely and effective response that can stop such an attack and reduce the number of victims.
At that last meeting, members of the board, along with Superintendent Ray Blanch, discussed the issue during their own board dialogue session.
The remarks by trustees and Blanch focused on studies suggesting the presence of an armed officer in school does not actually create a safer environment, and may in fact contribute to increased casualties. Trustees also promoted the district’s ongoing efforts to increase building security, with the installation of security vestibules and employing of greeters with police and military backgrounds, and seemed to characterize the parents’ request as more of an emotional response.
Parents who spoke Dec. 19 responded directly to what they saw as the board’s downplaying of the central premise of their request. Barbara Aceta, who had spoken at each of the previous meetings, again led off the remarks. She began by addressing the board’s citing of statistics showing an SRO can actually contribute to an increase in violence or suspensions, and does not guarantee prevention of violence.
“Here’s what I’ve learned about that,” she said. “Negative impacts from an SRO are more likely to occur in schools with a majority of high-risk students and/or from low income communities, which doesn’t really apply to Increase Miller.”
Aceta said schools determine which elements of an SRO program serve them the best. She said SROs with negative impact are typically tasked with handling disciplinary actions, which also does not apply to IMES. She then cited, as a case study, all of the positive impacts of the current SRO, who is shared by multiple district schools.
“We want a dedicated SRO not just for prevention, but for protection,” said Aceta. “Response time, in the case of an active shooter event, is the most important issue to me.” An SRO who is there can respond in seconds, she said. “It’s the difference between saving lives or losing lives, and that is not an emotional statement, that is a fact,” she added, noting that emotion is not the enemy in this conversation, but is the fuel that can encourage action.
Agnes Petrocelli also returned as a speaker, and cited examples of incidents in which SROs were instrumental in preventing violence and saving lives. She said while an SRO does not prevent school shootings, the incidents she described all demonstrated that a quick response time reduced or prevented casualties.
A more pointed response to the board came from Kaitlin Watkins, who characterized what transpired at the last meeting as “a strategically rehearsed conversation by you all” in which data that was referenced compared apples and oranges. She was particularly critical of a statistic that was cited, saying having an armed officer in school increases the risk of violence by a shooter by 30 percent, and wanted to know why that information was not vetted when the current SRO was placed into five schools.
“Doesn’t it seem appropriate that the person who missed that should step down from their position on the school board?” she asked.
She said perhaps they all should step down, and fire the SRO for making the schools more dangerous.
Watkins also took exception to the way “we know this is very emotional for parents” was “dumped a few times into the dialogue,” and found their comments to be “a clear discussion about all the reasons why we should not have a school resource officer in each of our schools, instead of an open-minded consideration of our concerns.”
After several more parents spoke in support of an SRO, the board again engaged in a dialogue among themselves. This time, trustee Rory Burke, who had earlier expressed skepticism about positive outcomes from SROs, continued to push for a data-driven decision, and asked whether there were reliable sources for data on which they can depend. He said he appreciated the community sharing data that indicated whether the presence of an SRO makes a school less safe depends on the environment, and “now that I think about it, maybe it really does depend on the environment.”
Blanch said he appreciated the community speaking, but didn’t think they were going to find one single answer.
“The reality is, we just don’t know,” he said, but acknowledged that no matter what happens, response time is reduced with an SRO.
Trustee Barbara Williams noted she had previously brought some studies in an attempt to understand. “What we’re hearing here is there are a number of different studies, and that circumstances vary from place to place,” she said.
She wanted to know if there were experts who could look at all the different factors affecting this district and let them know if having an SRO made sense.
Blanch said he knew an expert he had worked with in the past with whom he could consult. Board President Julia Hadlock said the reality is that there are financial constraints, and they do have to represent the entire community. “I think it’s important that we ask experts and our educational partners to help us know what options there are, and then we can evaluate those as part of our budget,” she said.
“We do understand the emotions that are around this,” said Hadlock. “I think we want to make thoughtful, pragmatic, solution-driven decisions. It may feel like this is an orchestrated conversation; it’s not, it’s how we discuss things.”
Blanch asked for confirmation that he reach out for advice; Burke suggested more than one expert be consulted. Hadlock noted they could use BOCES, which already helps with security planning, and Blanch confirmed that BOCES has expertise and works with other groups in the area with which he could consult.