By ADAM ATKINSON

CANTON -- Conversations have begun between school, town and village officials about the possibility of fielding a school resource officer staffed from the Canton Village Police Department.

Canton Village Police Chief James Santimaw gave a presentation to the town board at their meeting Wednesday, March 14 about the roll and need of having a school resource officer in place at the school. The chief had previously met with school officials on the matter and was planning to address the village board at their meeting Monday, March 19.

Santimaw told the board of a threat incident which occurred at the school last year regarding a student that resulted in an arrest of the individual. That kind of activity, which has been widely publicized at numerous schools around the nation, and locally, most recently in Gouverneur Central School, has continued in the current year at Canton, Santimaw said.

“This year it started back up again,” the chief said. “We’ve had mental health issues at the school.”

Santimaw said threatening notes have been left in bathrooms and other places at the campus.

“The school is at the point where Bill (Gregory, school superintendent) is very concerned for the safety of the school and the students.”

“They’ve done a great job at improving windows, the doors, the security system, the video system is fantastic. But they don’t have somebody there that can deal with something, that if, god forbid, we ever have a school shooting at Canton. Which, I hope it never ever happens but this is something that is on people’s minds,” said Santimaw.

Santimaw said there was an SRO in place at the school in the early 2000s, and while the officer built a good rapport with students of all ages, lack of funding lead to the position being dissolved.

Chief Santimaw said a school resource officer could provide students with safety information and other educational assistance, but would primarily be there to provide security for the school and enhanced safety for the students and staff.

“But at the end of the day it comes down to money I think,” Santimaw said. The chief said he was at the meeting to provide the board with background and to highlight the roll of a school resource officer.

Santimaw provided the board with a paper defining the position. The officer would be a sworn member of the department and the SRO program itself would be a collaborative effort between school staff, town, village, students, parents and community. An SRO would be immediate first responder for “any and all critical incidents that arise at the school and having them on campus can eliminate multiple minutes of response time when seconds count. They would be there to immediately deal with any intruder, student altercation or health emergency,” said the paper. The SRO would work at the school every day class was in session, Santimaw said.

The chief also supplied the board with an article titled “Where do mass shootings take place?” by Richard Florida and Alastair Boone, that was published March 1 online at www.citylab.com. The article highlights data that basically says that such incidents occur in middle-class communities much like Canton.

Santimaw said the majority of the studies on shooting incidents show that the violence occurs primarily in the first 5 minutes.

“Even if I get a phone call from Canton Central School, and . . . I’m lucky enough to have two or three officers on duty during the day, I don’t know if we are going get there in time,” Santimaw said. “I hope this never, ever happens . . . Unfortunately every school is having this conversation.”

Currently there are no schools in the county with an SRO.

“I wish I had an extra officer that I could just put there,” said the chief. Santimaw said he does try to make sure the police department has a presence at the school fairly regularly, with officers visiting a few times a week and making appearances at the crosswalks. The department currently has nine officers on the payroll.

While the chief was at the meeting to give an informational presentation on an SRO and not secure a formal financial commitment from the town, he was able to estimate the cost of fielding a school resource officer for the town board.

The position, with full family insurance, would cost a total of around $98,000 said Santimaw.

“I’ve spent 25 years of my life in schools,” said town supervisor Mary Ann Ashley, adding that some of those were in schools with school resource officers. “And its about developing a relationship with the students. The mental health in our schools is deteriorating. Its unfortunate.”

Santimaw said that department has handled mental health transports from the school, and has been called to the school about 14 times in the past two months.

The recent school shooting and killing of 17 students in Florida, following numerous other similar incidents over the years has lead to national debate on the issue and pronounced student activism over the last few weeks. A national March For Our Lives rally is set for March 24 with students from many local schools planning to join others around the country during the protest.