LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Sullivan West Central School District Superintendent Dr. Nancy M. Hackett announced at the district’s February 19 Board of Education meeting that the Safe Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) Committee recommends that the district hire a full-time school resource officer (SRO) for its Jeffersonville and Lake Huntington campuses. SROs are Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department officers with special training in school-related policing. If the Sullivan West board votes next month to implement the recommendation, Sullivan West will become the fourth district in the county to employ an SRO, joining Tri-Valley, Livingston Manor and Monticello districts.

It would not be the first time Sullivan West has had an SRO; for four years, New York State Trooper Greg Brewer served in that capacity. In place for nine years, the New York State Police SRO program was discontinued for lack of funding.

Hackett turned the floor over to Sergeant Cheryl Crumley, supervisor of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department Youth Division and an eight-year veteran of the SRO program. Crumley explained SRO duties, described a typical day in the life of a Sullivan County SRO, and told the board how she normally handles commonplace misbehaviors and criminal activity. Assignment to a school district for at least one year, Crumley said, allows an SRO to develop personal relationships with administrators, faculty, staff, students and parents and to gain comprehensive, intimate knowledge of the district and its challenges. Hackett interjected that this policy would not preclude a change in SRO assignment, if the district felt a better match could be made, adding that another district had done just that, with satisfactory results.

School board member and New York State Trooper Trevor Peachey told fellow board members that SROs are required to have instructional certification similar to that of teachers, preparing them to provide Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) and other coaching. Mentioning that SRO training includes tactics for defusing volatile situations without the use of force, Peachey said that the SRO also works in collaboration with truancy officers, guidance counselors, and school psychologists to promote success of at-risk students.

It will cost the district $75,100 to hire an SRO for the coming year, money expected to come from proceeds of the New York State Smart Schools Bond Act. Passed in 2014, the act was intended to provide funding for high–tech security devices and instructional technology. School board member Rachel Brey asked if the administration could justify using those funds for an SRO instead of for equipment, and school business administrator Lorraine Poston replied that the SAVE Committee thought the SRO a superior security option. To which Crumley added, “The SRO program’s ultimate goal is to build a positive dynamic between the community and law enforcement agencies.”

In other news, Hackett said that winter weather has been the district’s biggest challenge this year, noting that the district has already used five of the eight days designated for unsafe weather and that it might well have to close February 20 as well, as indeed turned out to be the case: wind chills of -33 necessitated full-day closure on February 20. If all eight winter weather days have been used by February 27, the March 16 extended weekend day will revert to a student school day.

This year’s high school musical, “The Secret Garden,” will be presented March 13 through 15. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $6 for students and are free for senior citizens, with discount-priced family tickets available for the 2 p.m. Sunday matinee.