By David Kilby, Special Writer
PLUMSTED Residents upset about the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre told the Township Committee and school board they’d like to see a greater police presence in their public schools, but were told it’s not financially feasible.
About 80 residents attended a Jan. 16 joint meeting of the Board of Education and Township Committee in New Egypt High School to discuss school safety, almost a month to the day a gunman armed with assault weapons stormed a Connecticut school and killed 26 people, including 20 children.
Police Chief Matthew Petrecca, who attended the meeting with several township police officers, says his department does assign an officer to the schools, but one officer is spread thin among the four different school buildings. The chief said the township needs more police officers than the 12 it now has.
”The most precious thing in our community is our children,” Chief Petrecca said to the residents. “I need your support to fix the weaknesses. Our children are defenseless in our schools. I’m alerting all of you. If we have what we need, we can be a proactive Police Department and not a reactive one. I can’t do it without you. “
A municipality should have two police officers for every 1,000 residents, he said so Plumsted with 9,000 residents should have at least 18 officers.
Luisa Erich-Carr, of Holmes Road, asked what could be done to hire more police, but the school board and Township Committee said there was no money.
”Look at your budgets and see where you can cut to provide police officers,” Ms. Erich-Carr responded.
Plumsted Schools Superintendent Karen Jones said safety is “priority No. 1” for the district, and Mayor David Leutwyler added that the Township Committee works closely with the Board of Education to keep the children safe.
”This is a critical issue for all of us,” Dr. Jones said. “It’s on all of our minds. School safety will continue to be and has always been foremost. When we see weaknesses, we are constantly evaluating, adjusting and improving security.”
Dr. Jones said police, fire and other first-responders hold joint security meetings, and school staff is trained annually on security procedures.
Communication also plays a vital role in the district’s security measures, Dr. Jones said. A two-way radio system allows for school-to-school communication, and reverse 911 calls alert people of emergencies in the schools.
Dr. Jones also said the schools have surveillance camera coverage that is continuously being expanded, and, eventually, police patrol cars will have access to that camera footage.
Residents, however, pressed school and township officials on finding money in their budgets to hire more police.
”The district does have a surplus,” school Business Administrator Sean Gately responded to one questioner. “Whether it’s allocated to hire police officers would come to a board decision.”
Mr. Gately said the school district had $1.9 million in surplus as of the fiscal year ending June 2012, but $1.6 million of that is from last year’s federal impact aid, which is an unusually large amount for the district to receive. (Federal impact aid is funding for school districts in towns where a significant amount of local land, is removed from the tax rolls because it is owned by the federal government.)
Doing the math, some residents noted that even if the federal aid is deducted from the $1.9 million surplus, that still leaves $300,000 in the budget surplus. But Harry Miller, the school board president, said money could be needed for emergency appropriations such as repairs after storms like Hurricane Sandy.
Chief Petrecca said it would cost about $100,000 to hire one police officer, a figure that includes both salary and benefits.
”When it comes to public safety, there’s no amount of money that’s too much to protect our children,” Chief Petrecca said. “Your children and homes are in my hands. Trust me, you need more protection.”
Members of the public acknowledged the budgetary constraints, but still voiced their frustration with the Board of Education and Township Committee.
”I don’t work for any of you,” said Ted Kucowski, of East Colliers Mill Road. “You work for me. I want you to use that surplus to hire police officers to prevent criminals from coming in to our schools and harming my children.”
Mr. Miller responded, “The township has no surplus to provide additional officers to the school district.”
He added the board realizes there’s an issue, but has to consider the town also is dealing with financial difficulties.
Residents suggested finding retired police officers who would work for much less than active officers or, perhaps, even work as volunteers.
Tom Falletta, of Jennifer Way, said the township and district need to think of creative ways to come up with a solution.
”Things haven’t been normal since 2001,” he said, referring to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “So you need to think outside of the box.”
Township Administrator Ron Dancer, who is also a District 12 assemblyman, said Gov. Chris Christie recently discussed school safety at a town meeting in Manahawkin.
”The governor did make it clear that (school safety) is a priority,” Mr. Dancer said, adding that whether a solution comes from the local, state or federal level, “the one common denominator is the taxpayer.”
Mayor Leutwyler ended the meeting making it clear the Board of Education and Township Committee members also have children in the schools, and they share the public’s frustration.

