JACKSON — A plan to reinstate a program that previously placed a police officer in Jackson’s schools was approved by the Jackson School District Board of Education at a recent meeting.
On Jan. 28, school district administrators said they were excited to enter into a shared services agreement with the township to reinstate the school resource officer (SRO) program.
“We are very excited to have one of our school resource officers back in the district and working with our students,” Superintendent of Schools Lu Anne Meinders said.
The agreement will bring Police Officer Colin Menafra to the school district for the remainder of the 2013-14 school year and for the entire 2014-15 school year.
From 2003-09 the Jackson Police Department had an SRO stationed in Jackson Memorial High School, Jackson Liberty High School and in the Goetz and McAuliffe middle schools. The township paid the salaries of the SROs, who are regular officers with the police department.
According to police Lt. Steven Laskiewicz, there were four officers in the SRO program at its height. Each officer patrolled his assigned school and provided support in the event of an emergency or other policerelated needs.
As a result of budgetary issues faced by the township and the school district, a shared services agreement to operate the SRO program never came to fruition, according to police. The SRO program came to a halt prior to the start of the 2010-11 school year.
According to the recent resolution, the school district will pay $85,000 to have the SRO in the schools from September through June.
When school is not in session the township will pay the officer’s salary, according to township officials.
For board President Barbara Fiero, the cost of having Menafra patrol the schools was a foregone conclusion. She said it has been on the district’s agenda for a while.
“This was always something everyone wanted to happen, we just had to figure out a way to accomplish it,” Fiero said. “This is something that is good for all of Jackson.”
School district administrators, municipal officials and representatives of the police department agreed that having a police officer in the schools would make the facilities safer for students and faculty members.
“The fact that there is an officer in school lowers the chance of violence and drug use, and you are more likely to get tips about activity that should not be going on,” Mayor Michael Reina said after the Township Council unanimously approved its portion of the shared services agreement.
Meinders said the return of the SRO program will not only help with security matters, but will also help build a relationship between pupils and local law enforcement.
“Having an officer physically in our buildings, walking the halls, interacting one-on-one with our students every day will foster a very positive connection between the police department and the student body, which is what the SRO program is all about,” the superintendent said.
While the current agreement only allows for one police officer to serve all 10 of Jackson’s public schools, Laskiewicz said plans to expand the SRO program could be coming down the pipeline in the future.
“The agency is looking forward to expanding the program as staffing allows,” he said.
Contact Andrew Martins at [email protected].