Should Bloomfield have cops in grade schools? Many parents say ‘no’

Parents spoke for about two hours against the district’s plans to place the Class III officers, certain retired police officers, at district elementary schools.

BLOOMFIELD — Will students at the school district’s nine elementary schools have armed officers greeting them when they arrive for classes in September?

Not if members of Bloomfield Families for Sensible Safety, a group of local residents opposing the district’s plan for such officers, have their way.

Parents and students protested outside the high school, and spoke during a school board meeting on Tuesday evening for about two hours against the district’s plans to place the Class III officers, certain retired police officers, at district elementary schools.

The Board of Education, which had initially planned on approving job descriptions for the officers, delayed that action and instead heard the public’s objections to the plan for the armed officers at the elementary schools.

“Kids are very observant,” said Emily Paul, 18, a Bloomfield High School senior. “They’ll notice that something in their schools have changed, and that someone is there to be intimidating.”

Superintendent Salvatore Goncalves previously announced the district allocated $550,000 in this year’s budget to place Class III officers, certain recently retired police officers, at the elementary schools and fund other upgrades to district security.

While school officials have pointed to other school districts in New Jersey with armed officers at grade schools, Melissa De Fino, the parent of an incoming kindergartner at Bloomfield’s Oakview School, told the school board that only 20, or nearly 3 percent, of New Jersey’s school districts have armed security officers at elementary schools. There are 691 school districts in the state.

“What is right for example in Sussex County, where police response time might be significantly lower, might be drastically different than what might be right for Bloomfield,” De Fino said. “Bloomfield is a low-crime town with a terrific police department.”

In seeking to quell the community concerns, Bloomfield’s High School Principal Chris Jennings spoke to the benefits of having school resource officer at his school. The officer provides more than just assurances against school shootings, Jennings said.

“He directs traffic and he meets with parents and students,” he said. “The most important thing he does is he builds relationships with students so they come to him.”

Bloomfield Police Director Samuel A. DeMaio also emphasized the value of law enforcement building children’s trust.

“Having a person that is in the school that is building community trust is paramount,” DeMaio said. “The benefits of that are unspeakable.”

The Class III officers will receive training that is specific to how they interact with students and staff, he said. “It is something the police department here is definitely in support of,” DeMaio said.

About 25 parents protested on Tuesday night to the plan for armed officers at the elementary schools, holding up signs that said “Listen to Research not the NRA” and “How can you lead our students without doing your Homework.”

Only one member of the public spoke in support of the plan for armed officers: Anthony Tamburro, the father of two children at Brookdale School. Tamburro argued that parents should teach their children not to be afraid of that armed officers.

“Guns are everywhere,” Tamburro said. “For me, I don’t think that kids are scared of guns. Let’s do our job as parents. Let’s teach our kids.”

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Previously: Bloomfield parents protesting plan for armed guards at grade schools

Parents urged the school district to consider alternatives to placing armed officers in the elementary schools and pointed to the fact armed officers stationed at the school were unable to prevent the fatal shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February.

Parents asked to know what other security measures have been considered besides armed officers, however, school officials have been reluctant to discuss such measures.

“A plethora of different safety options have been discussed privately among the board and the administration and with recommendations from Department of Education and the New Jersey School Boards Association,” said Joseph V. Fleres, Bloomfield School District’s school safety specialist and director of elementary education in an interview.

Fleres declined to discuss specifics.

Afterward, Goncalves said the board will take the residents’ comments into consideration.

“We’ve heard the sentiments of those who came before the microphone this evening,” Goncalves said. “The board obviously respects that and will take that into consideration, for sure.”

What do other districts do?

The neighboring Belleville School District has long had armed school security services personnel in all of its school buildings, Schools Superintendent Richard Tomko said on Tuesday.

Belleville’s security staff have training under the Security Officer Training Act, known as SORA, and are thought of as integral members of the school district staff, Tomko said.

The officers, who are armed, were put in place since before his tenure as superintendent began in 2015, Tomko said. 

“They’re required to have SORA, which is security training, they have to have a current and approved license to carry permit to carry,” Tomko said.  “And they’re all retired law enforcement.”

Neighboring Montclair’s school district, however, is among those that do not have armed officers at its elementary schools, although it does have armed officers at its middle school and high school, a point which a Bloomfield parent made during a prior school board meeting.

Bloomfield’s petition opposing armed officers to be placed at elementary schools had just over 250 signatures as of Tuesday.

Among those opposing the plan for Class III officers is Maeve McVeigh, the mother of a Brookdale School kindergartner and second-grader.

“The psychological effects of small children seeing guns every day outweighs any benefit,” McVeigh said.

Email: kadosh@northjersey.com

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