BY ANDY GARDNER North Country This Week MASSENA -- The village board on Tuesday night agreed to a memorandum of understanding to hire a police officer that will patrol the Massena Central School …
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BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week
MASSENA -- The village board on Tuesday night agreed to a memorandum of understanding to hire a police officer that will patrol the Massena Central School District.
The officer, referred to by officials as a “school resource officer,” has yet to be hired, but the deal calls for the village and school to have equal power over that process.
Massena Central Superintendent Pat Brady said the Board of Education will vote on the memorandum at their meeting on Monday night.
"I believe this is going to be rewarding," Chief Adam Love said prior to the village board’s vote on Tuesday. “It’s hopefully going to be a positive outcome for everybody.”
The school district held public forums to gather public input. The residents who showed up and spoke all seemed to support the measure.
The deal makes the officer an employee of the village under supervision of the Massena Police Department. The village will initially pay the officer’s salary and benefits, and the district will reimburse them quarterly. The officer can be active duty or retired with a minimum of five years’ experience in law enforcement.
The memorandum says the officer will not act as a school disciplinarian, but “shall, at all times, enforce all applicable federal, state and local laws.” Anything that doesn’t rise to the level of a violation or crime will be referred to the district.
It also says the officer can search students. The SRO "shall assist school administrators in conducting searches which may involve weapons, controlled substances or in situations where a student’s emotional state may present a risk of harm to school administrators,” the MOU says.
It also calls for the officer to "establish positive relationships with and act as a mentor to students." It also says the SRO needs to “possess even temperament and set a good example for students and staff.”
The officer will also have access to student records but receive training in confidentiality laws. The officer is also to log all student interactions, “including name, gender and age of student, type of infraction, location, and disposition.” They will also be required to keep "general information about the daily interactions between the SRO and administration, staff, students and the public."
Those records will be provided to both the village and school district at least once per year.