With an approaching budget season and recent aid figures released by the state, the district plans to review additional methods to secure schools.
At the latest board of education meeting, Gloucester Township Public Schools discussed its current school resource officers contract, while considering community members’ ideas for future security measures.
According to Gov. Murphy’s Fiscal Year 2019 K-12 Projected State School Aid, which was released last week, the district will receive about $51,917,671 in state aid, including $487,009 in security aid.
Gloucester Township resident Frank Radisch, who was the 2017 mayoral Republican candidate, asked the board if these funds could go toward new security measures, such as adding more SROs and metal detectors.
Aside from this approach, Radisch also asked the board to consider funding such security through a combined effort between the district and municipality, as he says the two entities have a combined budget of more than $171 million.
“This definitely seems to be a shared responsibility between both the board and the municipal aspect of it,” he said.
Radisch pitched revised security measures, which he says will not exceed 1 percent of the combined budget.
He suggested adding metal detectors to all 11 schools, totaling 22 throughout the district, which he says would cost around $110,000. Additional security that would be needed during the peak hours to help support this function would cost about $118,000.
Radisch also suggested adding more security officers at an hourly rate to supplement the gap the current SRO program does not fulfill, specifically officers at the eight schools that an SRO cannot be at for seven hours a day for 180 schools days. This would cost around $302,000.
He says these ideas still leave more than $800,000 that could be applied to specific school requirements.
The community also voiced concern about the district’s funding for officers who are not always in the building.
The current three-year SRO contract, which ends in June, funds three officers who are based at the middle schools. However, as stated in the contract, these officers can go to other schools outside of the district, but other law enforcement must cover in their absences, according to board solicitor Daniel Long.
The board could not directly comment on Radisch’s ideas for funding and security, but says it will review them over the next week as tentative budgets are finalized, especially since the current SRO contract will be over in June.
“This is budget season, so I think this is a good time to consider the ideas,” Long said.
“Certainly, I am in favor of increasing any security measures and really open to listening to all of them,” Superintendent John Bilodeau said. “I know we can’t pay for all of them, but certainly the ones that are most practical, we would have to consider.”
In other news:
• A special meeting to discuss the tentative 2018–2019 school budget is scheduled for March 26 at 4:30 p.m at the administration building.
• The public hearing for the 2018–2019 budget has been rescheduled to April 30.
• From Feb. 26 to March 12, nine Gloucester Township Public School employees resigned, including five one-to-one aides, three bus drivers and one bus aid. One of the nine resignations was rescinded.
• A total of 10 HIB investigations were conducted in February throughout the district. Two incidents were affirmed by the board of education.
• Despite its Feb. 26 tabling after pushback from the community, the board passed a resolution to install a nearly $4.8 million roof on Ann Mullen Middle School. Click here for the full story.
