LYNN – Despite the pleas of principals and a long track record of success in the schools, the slender Police Department budget will not include money for School Resource Officers in fiscal year 2010.
Police Chief John Suslak confirmed what most already knew Wednesday, saying that there is simply no room in the police department’s budget for SROs as he continues to try and figure out ways around layoffs and cuts.Officers were first removed from the city’s secondary schools in February when Suslak put them back on the street to try and spell overtime costs following Gov. Deval Patrick’s local aid cuts.Still, some in the School Department hoped grant money or some additional funding would emerge to replace those officers when school begins again in September, but Suslak essentially closed the door on those hopes Wednesday.”I don’t see (officers coming back). It is something that both the Police Department and the School Department would like to be able to do, but I can’t see it happening in the near future,” said Suslak. “We have a close working relationship with Dr. Latham and we will continue to provide help to the schools if there are any issues that arise.”Apart from the day-to-day crime prevention in the schools, principals have praised SRO’S for being a positive influence for kids and providing them with disciplinary support if an incident occurs.Many officers, especially at the middle school level, have created positive relationships with students who may need a little bit of guidance, and have been instrumental in preventing at-risk students from following the wrong path when they get to high school.In addition, having a police presence at a school cuts down on loitering by youths that hang around the buildings when school gets out, and helps curb issues such as vandalism or drug use in the area.In the wake of a School Department budget that, if approved, would lay off all of the district’s school monitors and more than one secondary school vice principal, some school staff are nervous that discipline in the schools will become a larger problem without SROs.Latham did say that money set aside to retain 15 laid off teachers in the fall would go to re-hire monitors if the department had fewer than 15 additional teaching positions to fill.”Both the school and the police departments are going to be challenged in fiscal year 2010,” said Suslak. “We are going to try and do what we can for the schools when issues arise.”Although the SROs are a thing of the past, the School Department has once again funded several much-needed security upgrades in the city’s schools. The security line in the budget allows for $189,000 in entrance system upgrades, the money needed to complete a front-door security overhaul at all schools.The department has also decided to retain School Safety and Security Officer Robert Ferrari, who is the liaison to the police department as well as the individual that oversees security upgrades and changes to the schools.Ferrari’s salary was paid in part by grant money in 2009, but the School Department has agreed to pick up the additional $40,000 tab on Ferrari’s approximately $80,000 salary now that the grant has run out.In speaking before releasing the budget Tuesday, Latham said that she had been in discussions with Suslak about the officers but sees no way that the School Department can help bring those officers back.”Every school that I talk to, they ask for them back and I wish we could do it,” said Latham. “That line is in the police budget. If we could afford to help support the police department for them I’d like to do that, but I just don’t think we have the money.”
