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School Resource Officer to Start at SH High in January
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December 30, 2015
by Rick Pezzullo
Officials in the Tarrytown Union Free School District and the Village of Sleepy Hollow have agreed to have a full-time police officer roam the hallways of Sleepy Hollow High School/Middle School.
The Board of Education decided in early December to move forward with the new security measure following a presentation by Mayor Ken Wray, Trustee Denise Scaglione and others. The Village Board of Trustees unanimously gave its blessing a week later.
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“Security was paramount,” said Board of Education President Mimi Godwin. “We were very open to hear from both sides; parents and students. We felt that was very important.”
Many parents and residents urged the Board of Education and superintendent of schools to take immediate action in November after the confiscation of a Taser stun gun from a female high school student on October 15 was reported in the media more than two weeks later.
That incident, which interim Superintendent of Schools Daniel McCann downplayed at a November 5 board meeting, took place just five days after a former district student, Bernizon Moronta, 16, of Tarrytown, was charged in the stabbing death of Tahj Robinson, 17, also a former student, in Barnhart Park in Sleepy Hollow.
The Sleepy Hollow Police Department has three officers already trained as school resource officers (SROs). Wray said a decision will soon be made as to which officer will become the SRO on the high school/middle school campus when he or she begins sometime in January.
“The village has been well prepared for this,” Wray said. “We have been looking to have a stronger relationship between the school district and the Police Department for many years. I think it will strengthen the school and strengthen the village.”
Over the last several months the village has had a police presence in the schools by having different officers visit. Wray emphasized the SRO was not intended to be a temporary Band-Aid, but would become a permanent fixture in the district.
“This is not a temporary measure to the end of the school year. SROs work best over longer terms,” Wray said. “We felt it was very important to meet this need immediately. The most important thing is the safety of our children, so the trustees recognized that, we stepped up and we took care of that first.”
Wray noted village and school officials still had to work out financial terms for the SRO.
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