In the November 11 edition of the Sunday Repubican there was an article entitled Pharm parties leading some Western Massachusetts teens to misuse of prescription drugs suggesting
drug use amongst teenagers is still a problem in western Massachusetts.
It would seem logicial that the presence of a police officer at the
high school might help avoid the tragic stories that are described in this article.
______________________________________________________________
Last month's decision by the School Committee to remove the
police officer stationed in Longmeadow High School showed two things, neither
of them reflecting well on that committee.
It revealed an air of Longmeadow exceptionalism, a confidence borne of
the naive belief that the problems affecting other cities and towns do not
exist here. Secondly, it laid bare the
school vs. town divisiveness which so many town politicians disclaim in theory
and practice in fact.
The LHS principal was on record as saying that he wanted the
police officer to remain in the school.
In addition to promoting the safety and security of the school, the
officer had been used in the health curriculum and to help teach
forensics. But Superintendent Marie
Doyle damned the police officer, known as the school resource officer (SRO),
with faint praise by saying that while she would love to retain the officer if
she "had all the money in the world," the position simply was not a
priority in light of all the other areas she valued more.
The School Committee debate focused on the fact that
retaining the officer would "cost" the school budget $32,500 in the
future, whereas now the officer is carried on the town-side budget. To the taxpayer, it matters not a whit how
the SRO is situated in the budget's line items.
For the School Committee, it mattered a great deal. If the officer was a freebie, at least from
their perspective, the majority of the members were fine with the expense. If it cost them something from
"their" budget, well, that was another matter altogether.
For years, we voters have heard the mantra, "It's one
town!" from our town leaders. But
the SRO debate showed how narrowly the School Committee can look at the
allocation between town and school services.
If the SRO position was worthy when it was carried entirely on the
police budget, then it is worthy if it is carried partly on the schools
budget. It should not matter if it's all
one town. How many times have we heard
School Committee members declare their fealty to fiscal rectitude and to
looking at the needs of the whole town, and not just the school system? When parochial budget concerns trump good
policy, the "one town" rhetoric looks pretty empty.
The decision to axe the police officer could be chalked up
to narrow-minded bean counting until one realizes that the school budget is
over $30 million. The cost of the police
officer, which will be borne by the taxpayer in any event, was about one tenth
of one percent of the total budget. Yes,
the School Committee was debating an item that was one one-thousandth of the
school budget. Mathematically, it's like
the difference between batting .325 or .326 over the course of a major league
season.
Undergirding the hand wringing over the placement of this
salary in the overall town budget was a belief that Longmeadow High School just
does not need the presence of a police officer.
John Fitzgerald said there had been no police officer in his 33 years at
LHS. The Superintendent said that a
survey showed that nearly 90 percent of the students feel safe at the
school.
When East Longmeadow instituted its school resource officer
program in 2006, it did so "in light of the violence that has plagued
school systems throughout the country."
In 2011, when East Longmeadow began an initiative to combat underage
drinking, it was spearheaded by its SRO.
Of the SRO, it was said, "Don Cavanaugh has his ear to the ground
constantly. He has his finger on the pulse of the schools and we're able to
head off some of these problems at the pass."
In 2010, the Ludlow school department happily paid for half
the cost of a police officer. The Ludlow
School Superintendent said that the state anti-bullying law created "a
tremendous need" for a school resource officer. "We're not staffed for this," he
said.
This Spring, after a Minnechaug student went public with
concerns about lax drug enforcement at the high school, the Hampden-Wilbraham
Superintendent said that the school resource officers at both the middle and
high schools were valuable in keeping drugs out of the hands of kids. He said, the officers "help us ensure
that all reports are investigated and acted upon in accordance with state and
local statutes."
So, if underage drinking, bullying, and drugs are problems
in East Longmeadow, Ludlow, Hampden, and Wilbraham, surely Longmeadow is
affected too. Or is our little burb so
different from the rest, so much better, so much more privileged and
enlightened that we do not need a police officer in LHS? Just recently, Longmeadow instituted an
anti-bullying policy that contemplates the involvement of the school resource
officer. State law requires schools to
investigate bullying complaints. Perhaps
the School Committee figures bullying has been eradicated, or that it never
existed in Longmeadow.
This attitude reminds me of a recent Town Meeting when there
was a proposal to impose a modest fine on those engaged in the public smoking
of marijuana, a bylaw that Amherst, of all places, had passed. The members of the Longmeadow School
Committee then in office voted against it, and not coincidentally, the measure
was defeated. It was as if this problem
were so far removed from the concerns of Longmeadow that it could be laughed
away.
In Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, "all the women are
strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above
average." That hubris, when applied
to a fictional town, is a source of humor.
Hubris, in a real town with real kids, can lead to tragedy. If a serious bullying incident comes to
light, or if drinking or drugs at LHS comes to light, the School Committee will
rue the day it sent the police officer away.
Alex J. Grant is a lawyer living in Longmeadow. His email address is alex.grant68@yahoo.com.
1 comment:
I applaud the decision to remove the police presence at the high school. Whether the decision was budgetary or societal it was a good one. As a former teacher for the CT. Dept. of Correction and father of two sons who graduated from LHS several years ago it has always bothered me to hear of the lock downs, drug sweeps and other tactics better suited to a prison than a school. The safety and security needs encouraged by law enforcement have encroached too far into our normally peaceful daily lives and need to be balanced by thoughtful people like those on the school committee and in the superintendent's office. If there are problems with drugs or bullying handle them individually. Our children are individuals and not suspects in the war on crime. Treating a school like a correctional facility may be good practice for police tactics and useful in increasing police budgets but undermines the learning atmosphere of our school. Mike Sullivan
Post a Comment