At the last meeting, board also elects new member, Kristine Height.
At its latest meeting, the Berlin Borough School District’s Board of Education agreed to enter into a contract with the borough, pending the review of both entities’ solicitors, to jointly fund two school resource officers at Berlin Community School.
Following council and the bourgh’s solicitors’ finalization of their portion of the negotiation, the governing body says it plans to pass a resolution regarding the contract at the March 17 workshop meeting.
“We’ll be ready to sign by the end of the week whenever you’re ready to sign … we won’t let our lawyer sit on this,” Mayor Jim Bilella said.
Following the initiation of the contract, the borough and police department will select two individuals to serve as SROs at BCS. Superintendent Kristen Martello says she will also be involved with the final selection of the officers.
“What’s really important to remember is we really want the right person — someone who is going to be a mentor to the students,” Martello said.
Martello says the decision to hire SROs unfolded through recent conversations she’s had with the police department and mayor.
Earlier in the evening, Sgt. T.J Varano and Chief Michael Miller gave a presentation on the necessity of SROs, outlining the police department’s school resource officer program.
SRO SLEO III officers must be retired officers under the age of 65. Along with receiving full training by the police department, they must pass a psychological exam and cannot be retired for more than three years.
Varano says the benefits of hiring an SRO include having a zero-minute response time to calls of service, possessing full police powers while on duty and having direct resources to school administrators and students. SROs also have lower costs than full-time officers. The lower salary stems from logistics such as not being eligible for health benefits.
“It’s a comforting presence to students and staff,” Varano said.
He stressed the importance of SROs’ immediate proximity to potential danger as a trend in recent American mass shootings, in that most massacres end within a matter of minutes.
“For every second that we waste doing something else, you’re losing lives,” Varano said. “People are dying in the buildings during these events. I don’t know how to put it to you other than just telling you honestly. The more seconds that we waste, it’s more people dying.”
SROs would be required to receive mandatory firearm training, mandatory in-service training, juvenile training, school security training, active shooter training and first aid.
Varano stressed SROs are not present to solely enforce the law but also serve as an informal counselor.
“I like to think that some of our officers have connected with some of our students to the point where it’s actually preventing these kids from committing crimes,” he said.
In other news:
• With six votes, Kristine Height was elected to fill the vacant board position.
• A motion was approved to submit the 2010–2019 tentative budget to the executive county of superintendent of schools. The total tentative budget is $12,623,590.
Details of the budget, including its impact on taxes, are still being processed at the state level but will be available by the public budget hearing, which is scheduled for Thursday, April 26.
• During the public comment portion of the meeting, parents continued voicing concerns about Martello, as Berlin resident Jeff Greenberg questioned the board on its consideration of the vote-of-no-confidence petition presented at the February meeting, as he says the petition has about 200 signatures.
“I was hoping to hear some kind of response to be honest with you — positive, negative or otherwise,” Greenberg said. “No response has been sent my way. That silence honestly speaks volumes to not only myself but to those who sit behind me.”
Greenberg mentioned the details of Martello’s contract. The document states the board must notify the superintendent in writing at least one year prior to the expiration of her contract of the board’s intent to not renew. Martello’s contract ends June 30, 2019, giving the board about three months to make a decision.
Board president Linda Welte said the board does not discuss personnel matters in public.
