N.S. officials want school resource officers

NORTH SMITHFIELD – The high school is one of the few high schools in Rhode Island that does not have a trained School Resource Officer (SRO) walking its corridors, but that could change soon under a plan now being worked on by town and school officials.

The options for adding both a resource officer at the high school and a second officer to visit both the middle school and the town’s elementary schools were aired by the town council with members of the police department and school department Monday night.

School Superintendent Michael St. Jean said there is still work to do on the funding provisions for the new police roles, but for now two police department officers will be undergoing certified School Resource Officer training to get the program started.

“The police department has two police officers who want to go for the training regardless of the funding options,” St. Jean said.

The department members, a male officer and female officer, would be trained for work in the schools in the next available session for SRO certification and have that background available to the town as it moves forward on

implementing the program in the schools, St. Jean noted.

The options for creating SRO positions serving local schools were initially discussed by the town’s Public Safety Committee which in turn recommended the new police duties be considered for implementation by the town council, St. Jean said.

For now, officials will continue to work on a staffing change proposal that would have the Police Department hire two civilian dispatchers like those employed by other communities which in turn would free up two officers currently working dispatch for SRO duty.

The exact plan for making the staffing changes and finding the necessary funding has not been finalized and St. Jean said officials agreed during Monday’s meeting of the town council to continue working on that part of the proposal.

The five-member council voted unanimously to continue studying the options for implementing the program at the end of the discussion.

The town may be eligible for supporting grants and related outside funding which it would have to apply for as the new school security program is created, according to St. Jean.

The staffing positions are being considered as the school department also moves forward on updating its school infrastructure security systems and emergency response plans while also reviewing the social and emotional supports available to local students, according to St. Jean. The school committee received an overview of those changes during its meeting Tuesday night.

The security improvements were being taken regardless of the recent tragedy in Parkland, Florida, and even the latest incident in Maryland on Tuesday, according to St. Jean.

“We are on the fast track,” St. Jean said while adding that the events in Florida do highlight the serious need for the changes.

While the school resource officer plan is still being worked out, St. Jean said the town’s officials have agreed SROs are an important addition to the school department’s safety and wellness programs.

“The police department, the school department and the town are all together in support of having school resource officers, it is now just finding the means to do it,” he said.

Town Councilwoman Claire O’Hara, a retired elementary school teacher for the town, said she was very pleased to see all the sides working together to make an important security change for local students. “I think it will be wonderful,” O’Hara said while noting the cooperation between the various town departments and agencies would make the change happen.

“They will be starting in September because these officers have agreed to get the training,” she said while commending the local police department for its role in speeding the program forward.

“We were one of the only school departments in Rhode Island that did not have a SRO at its high school,” O’Hara said.

Town Council President John Beauregard, a former R.I. State Police trooper, on Tuesday noted the school shooting incident in Maryland earlier in the day only underscored the importance of having trained school resource officers in local schools. “Today really kind of seals the deal,” he said. “It was a school resource officer that saved a potential massacre,” he said. “Unfortunately, that is where we are in this day and age,” Beauregard said.

As the discussion showed Monday evening, putting school resource officers into place in local schools is “definitely something that we want to do,” Beauregard said of local officials.

The first step in achieving that goal would be the hiring of the civilian dispatchers for the police department and also working out the details of using those new employees to handle both police and fire dispatch for the town, Beauregard said.

“We are working on it right now,” he said while noting the merger of the two dispatch services would help to free up the police department staff needed to allow the assignment of SROs. Those officers would have different schedules from the rest of the department given the need to be available throughout the school year and as result schedule their vacation time along with school vacations or over the summer months when school is out. But Beauregard said all of those details should be worked out in the weeks ahead so that the new duties can be taken up by the police department members.

“We are going to do everthing we can to make this happen,” Beauregard said.