MARLBORO – Municipal officials and the Marlboro K-8 School District Board of Education have entered into a shared services agreement that will provide for a school security officer (SSO) to be assigned to each of the district’s schools.
According to the terms of the agreement, one SSO will be assigned to each building during the 2018-19 school year: the Asher Holmes School, the Frank Defino Central Elementary School, the Frank J. Dugan Elementary School, the Marlboro Elementary School, the Marlboro Middle School, the Marlboro Memorial Middle School, the Robertsville School and the David C. Abbott Early Learning Center.
The initial agreement will begin July 1 and be in effect until June 30, 2019, and an annual renewal is expected.
Business Administrator Jonathan Capp said the school district’s estimated annual share will be $275,000. He said the township’s share is estimated to be $345,000 for 2018-19 and between $310,000 and $340,000 per year in the second through fifth years.
According to the agreement, the Marlboro Police Department will have the power to hire, discharge, assign and discipline SSOs. The school board reserves the right to request an alternate SSO should an assigned officer’s performance be contrary to police policies.
The basic qualifications to work as an SSO require an individual to be a Class III special law enforcement officer or a sworn police officer employed by the township.
Class III officers are recently retired law enforcement personnel who will be under the command of the police department and may carry a firearm while on duty. Class III officers will be paid $25 per hour.
Municipal officials are in the process of hiring Class III officers who will be stationed at the schools beginning in the 2018-19 school year. The Class III officers will replace the regular full-time officers who are handling that duty for the remainder of the current school year.
“It’s important that our children who go to school in Marlboro feel as safe as they possibly can,” Mayor Jonathan Hornik said. “I’m pleased the Board of Education and this council supports this notion.”