What is the current problem(s) that we are hoping to solve with an SRO?

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1 VCSD - Questions and Answers on SRO program August 2018 What is a School Resource Officer? A School Resource Officer (SRO) is an active duty police officer based in a school district. The primary purpose of a School Resource Officer is to keep students and staff safe. The SRO becomes a member of the school and district safety teams and works collaboratively with school staff to enhance school safety. What are the goals of the School Resource Officer (SRO) program? The goals for the SRO program are to enhance school safety by assisting in planning for crisis situations. The SRO will be a member of the district Safety Committee and will work with the building safety teams to plan for emergency response. providing information and training to school staff on school security. The SRO will be present on school campuses on a daily basis and can assist school staff with information and training on emergency procedures such as safety drills. building relationships with students and school staff to enhance school safety. The presence of the SRO will help to encourage positive interactions between students and adults. helping to educate our students on safety and security both within and outside of school. The SRO can participate in lessons on school safety for our students at all levels. What is the current problem(s) that we are hoping to solve with an SRO? The primary purpose of the SRO program is to enhance safety and security on our school campuses. School Resource Officers can respond to emergencies on school campuses very rapidly, and can communicate with the Sheriff s Department to ask for additional law enforcement support if needed. They are a presence on school campuses that assure students, staff, and parents that we can respond quickly in an emergency. The presence of an SRO on campus can serve to prevent situations from escalating (e.g., an irate, non-custodial parent). The SRO can be a deterrent to crime on our campuses due to the visible law enforcement presence. School Resource Officers also serve an educational function in our schools to teach students about the role of law enforcement in the community. It is important to recognize that the Sheriff s Department s station used to be next to Cooperative Extension (across the street from the MS/HS campus), and it is now in Clarksville. Currently the Sheriffs have armed, active duty officers at the 911 Center next to the Albany County Highway Garage, but that center is moving within the next year. The Sheriffs will be farther way from us than they have ever been within the next year. What data supports the decision? The most important data supporting a School Resource Officer program is the prevalence of gun violence in schools in the United States. Here is some of the relevant data:

2 Shootings in US Schools Jan Dec 2017 Jan June Shootings 28 shootings 25 Killed 40 Killed 60 injured 66 injured Two years ago, our district conducted an active shooter drill with the Albany Sheriffs at the MS/HS campus. The key takeaways from that exercise were the importance of instantaneous communication with first responders and the response time to the scene for law enforcement. We have been discussing these items in our safety committee for the past two years. Sheriff Apple has worked with our district to implement the Mutualink system to allow the Sheriffs to access our security cameras in emergencies. The Sheriff has also arranged for us to have twoway radios in each of our schools and on each of our buses to enable instantaneous communication with 911 in the event of an emergency. Our entire faculty and staff had active shooter training done by Sgt. Ron Messen of the Albany Sheriff s Department in March of this year. This training was also provided to interested parents and community members in May of this year. Regarding school shootings, Sgt. Messen said, it is not a matter of if, but a matter of when a school shooting will happen in a particular school. Sgt. Messen also pointed out that active shooter events are usually of very short duration. Typically, the shooting is over in a matter of 3 to 5 minutes. Therefore, response time is critical in neutralizing a threat. The Albany Sheriffs currently have armed, active duty officers at the 911 center next to the Albany County Highway Garage; however, that center is being moved within the next year, so that the closest Sheriff s Department location will be in Clarksville, which will lengthen response time. Active shooters in schools are not necessarily students. Anyone with access to firearms could engage in an active shooting at a school. The prevalence of gun violence generally in US society is much higher than other developed nations. Here is data on homicide rates by firearms: Nation Homicide Rate by Firearms per Million Population in 2012 Australia 1.4 Germany 1.9 Netherlands 3.3 Canada 5.1 Switzerland 7.7 United States 29.7 While active shootings in schools are still very low probability events, they are increasing in frequency. The School Resource Officer is another layer of protection to supplement all of the things we are already doing in the event of a violent situation in our schools.

3 Having an officer on the scene at the beginning of a catastrophic event would provide vital information on the specifics of the threat to the other officers and first responders coming to the scene, improving the effectiveness of the response. What are the trends in student disciplinary data for our district? VADIR/DASA Data for the District Incidents/School Years Intimidation/Harassment/Bullying * Criminal Mischief 3 1 No longer collected Larceny 1 0 No longer collected Use/Possession/Sale of Drugs Minor Altercations (no injuries) 6 2 No longer collected Cyber-Bullying * Important Note: The criteria for reporting bullying incidents for was changed to include unfounded incidents as well as incidents that are deemed founded as were reported in previous years. Therefore the bullying data for is not comparable to previous years. What are the trends for student absenteeism in our district? VCSD Attendance Data number of students with 18 or more absences for the year School Year VHS VMS VES Do we currently have a procedure in place for dealing with a student threat? Does the procedure call for documentation? Yes there are procedures for the building safety teams to address threats. There is a written protocol in the school safety plans to communicate with the public regarding actual threats. There is no specific requirement to communicate about unsubstantiated threats. All disciplinary incidents are documented by building administrators in the disciplinary records. What training is provided to staff on student mental health issues? There is required annual training for all staff on student mental health issues. This training is done during the September Professional Development Days. The HS Principal and School Social Worker have been trained on the ACE Program (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and the ES is implementing this program for staff this school year. The principals are required to document threats in the disciplinary record and to follow up as required by district policies such as the Code of Conduct and Bullying/Harassment Policy.

4 What other measures are either in place now or being deployed to provide for the safety of our students and staff? What are we doing to create a safe educational climate--physical safety and psychological safety? Are there any state, federal or other opportunities for funding to defray costs? The district has implemented several measures to enhance school safety: 1. Increase in the number of security cameras on both campuses as follows: Elementary Campus from no working cameras to 10 cameras MS/HS Campus from 17 cameras to 54 cameras 2. Direct link from our school security camera feeds to the Albany County Sheriff s Dispatch Center and patrol vehicles in the event of emergencies using the Mutualink system. 3. Installation of intruder hardware locks on all classroom and office doors in the district. This allows doors to be locked from the inside in an emergency. 4. Installation of emergency radios in all schools, including portable units for each building, to enable instantaneous communication with law enforcement in the event of an emergency. 5. Installation of emergency radios in all school buses to enable instantaneous communication with law enforcement in the event of an emergency. 6. Change in the protocol for after school access to Kids Club at the Elementary School to ensure that the door is not left unlocked. 7. Change in the protocol at the MS/HS to ensure that the back athletic wing door is not left open when PE classes are outside. 8. Administrators and DASA Officers are trained on Dignity for All Students Act requirements annually. All staff members are trained annually on DASA reporting and student mental health. 9. Each school building has a team of teachers, administrators, and staff that address any issues of concern for individual students. 10. The district has a safety committee to review safety protocols and discuss improvements of school safety. 11. The district employs school counselors in each building to assist students, as well as a school psychologist on each campus, and a social worker on the secondary campus. 12. A plan for the implementation of secure vestibule entrances in in process as follows: MS and HS secure entrance proposal has been submitted to NYS Smart Schools for approval. ES secure entrance proposal is included in the Capital Project approved in May 2018.

5 There is currently no state or federal funding for School Resource Officers. The possibility of doing the SRO program through BOCES to generate aid was explored, but it is not permitted. What kind of disciplinary role will the SRO get involved with in the school and how much direct contact will they have with students? For example, will they routinely patrol areas, such as bathrooms, and if drug use is discovered, will arrests be made? Per the draft SRO agreement with the Albany County Sheriff s Office (which is posted on the district website), the SRO is not to be involved in routine school disciplinary matters. The SRO would only be involved in matters that involve criminal conduct. The SRO would have informal contact with students in the hallways, cafeteria, etc. The SRO may also become involved in classroom lessons (for example, the role of community helpers in the ES curriculum). Per the draft agreement, any arrests would be referred to other Sheriff s department deputies or investigators. The SRO would not make arrests on campuses unless an emergency situation requires it for safety. Do the responsibilities of the school resource officer overlap in any way with the responsibilities of any of our administrators, and, if yes, which administrator(s) and in which ways? The responsibilities of the SRO and school administrators overlap in the general sense that each is responsible for enhancing school safety and security. No specific duties or responsibilities will be removed from school administrators as a result of having an SRO on campuses. With a school resource officer in place, are any responsibilities eliminated from the job description of any of our administrators? If yes, which responsibilities and for which administrators? No. Per the draft agreement, the School Resource Officer is not to take on the duties of school administrators. Will the SRO s responsibility include athletic fields? School grounds generally? What are the expected hours and is this a 10-month or 12-month position? In the event that activities occur either after school or in the evenings, will there be extra charges for the SRO to be present? The SRO position is a 10 month position. The SRO would be present on school campuses when school is in session for students. The regular hours would be 7:15AM to 3:15PM. The SRO would be responsible for all areas of school campuses including school grounds. The hours can be flexible to accommodate after school or weekend events. The flex hours would only apply for the full time position. There is a provision for overtime if needed. To whom does the SRO report? The SRO is an employee of the Albany County Sheriff and reports to Chief Deputy Lee Bormann. Brian Hunt will be the liason to Lee Bormann of the Sheriff s Department for any issues relating to the SRO.

6 What determines if the position is part time vs full time. Given that we only have 2 school buildings that are just minutes away from each other, what would an SRO do while kids are in classes if it were a full time position? The part time position would not allow for an SRO to be present each day. The part time SRO would be present on alternate days so that the Sheriff can schedule the officer for other duties. The full time SRO would be present on each campus for arrival and dismissal, and during the school days would alternate presence on each campus, including inside buildings and on school grounds. The SRO will also attend major events during school days and would have the possibility of flexing hours for events outside of regular school hours (for the full time SRO only). What do other schools in the area have in place? If a school resource officer is in place, is it on a full or part time basis? Per the Bethlehem Superintendent: We have three. One at the HS, one at the MS and one that does the DARE program. The third officer that does DARE is not assigned to the schools; he does other police work outside of DARE; however, he is the third contact if we need him. Per the Guilderland superintendent: We have one 1 SRO. His office is in the high school, but he technically serves the entire district. As you might suppose, most of his time is at GHS. Other than the SRO, we typically have good police presence around and about the buildings whenever requested and we have the DARE program in all 5 elementary schools. Both of those districts have their local police departments providing their SROs. Berne-Knox-Westerlo and Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school districts are implementing one full time SRO from the Sheriff s Department in their districts for the school year. RCS also has another SRO in their district from their local police department. How will we evaluate the effectiveness of this decision? What is the criteria for success? Who would be responsible for supervision/evaluation of the SRO? The SRO would be an employee of the Albany Sheriff s Department and would be supervised and evaluated by that department. The district would evaluate the effectiveness of the SRO program in terms of any criminal or emergency situations that arise during the year, and how they were handled. The quality of the relationships the SRO builds with students, staff, parents, and community members. The problems/issues that the SRO helps to resolve/diffuse.

7 Can we see a sample MOU or draft agreement for the SRO? How are responsibilities defined? Is this structured as an annual contract? The draft MOU is posted on the website. It is an annual contract, and responsibilities and procedures for the SRO are clearly defined in the draft agreement. What does this mean for Albany County Sheriff s Department (ACS) staffing--does this take an officer "off the streets"? 5 Sheriff s Deputies have been identified for this program, and they will receive specialized SRO training in July These are new positions and will not take officers away from other duties. COST--can we negotiate the two charges with ACS? Does VCSD pay ACS or is the SRO an employee of VCSD? Does the District have available funds within the budget to pay for this position? Specifically, what is the current projection on the amount of residual savings that will result from the two retirements once the faculty hires are completed? What other factors are under consideration to allocate these available funds? The district had savings from the 2 late retirements totaling $57,000. The district pays a flat fee to the Albany County Sheriffs for the SRO. The SRO is an employee of the Albany Sheriff s Department. Another place for the money would be to enhance our reserves. The Sheriff s Department indicated a willingness to negotiate the charge for the first year of the program ( ). We negotiated the cost for the full time SRO down to $57,000. Longer term funding (beyond the school year) could come from several sources: Increased fees for profiting making entities using our facilities. Reallocation of existing expenses through zero based budgeting by creating budget codes for school safety and for mental health supports. Increased interest income due to the higher interest rate environment. Do we need to review/adjust our insurance coverage if there is an armed SRO in the school? Per our insurance agent, if the SRO is an active duty law enforcement officer, there is no additional coverage needed.