A discussion around providing additional public school resource officers in Saratoga Springs received pushback from some city residents Tuesday.
The Saratoga Springs High School has for years hosted a school resource officer provided through the city police department.
Two of the district’s elementary schools and the middle school are outside of city limits and are served by an SRO through the county sheriff.
The district contracts with the city and county for about $75,000 per officer.
During Tuesday night’s regular city council meeting, Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino discussed the possibility of providing additional SRO’s to the Saratoga Springs city school district’s four elementary schools within the city.
“If tomorrow morning the Board of Education were to say, ‘We would like to have one or more additional school resource officers in any or all of the elementary schools,’ the Department of Public Safety would provide trained SRO’s regardless of the question of cost. That question should not be something that clouds the ultimate question of whether they’re available,” said Montagnino.
In an interview with WAMC in July, Montagnino said community members had contacted his office about SRO’s following “recent events,” a reference to high-profile mass shootings including the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas.
While the topic of providing additional SRO’s was up for discussion Tuesday, no related legislation was on the agenda.
The idea received from pushback from fellow councilors and members of the public.
Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi questioned the future cost of providing additional SRO’s.
“These SRO’s, you may be able to pay for them for this year, from your budget, currently, but in 2023, is added to the 2023 budget, we can’t afford to pay for something that the school board should be paying for,” said Sanghvi.
Montagnino said in addition to the trained SRO at the high school, two patrol officers on staff currently are trained to serve in schools and two more are being trained.
In an exchange with Sanghvi and Mayor Ron Kim, who served on the city council as Public Safety Commissioner more than a decade ago, Montagnino said the decision to bring on more officers would be up to the school district’s board of education.
“The board would have to be the body to make the decision, sure,” said Montagnino.
“The school board would have to have the vote and then they would come to you and you would make the assignment, and you would inform us. And we wouldn’t have a vote on it, right?” asked Sanghvi.
“That’s my understanding, sure,” said Montagnino.
“That wasn’t the way we did it when we did the school resources officers because there’s a contract,” said Kim.
A member of the MLK Saratoga Board, Hollyday Hammond is one local who opposes the idea.
“We know that nationally, SRO’s do not provide equal protection to all and contribute to the harassment and arrest of historically marginalized BIPOC, queer, disabled, and economically disadvantaged students. It is part of why the Brookings Institution recommends the elimination of SRO programs,” said Hammond.
Patty Morrison, a former city schools Board of Education member, asked the city council to leave the discussion surrounding SRO’s to the school district.
“The school district is [a] separate government entity which means it is separate from the operations of the city government and functions independently. My ask is the city council to respect the school district as the separate government entity that it is. Let the district come to the city for support if that is what they decide to do,” said Morrison.
Dr. Michael Patton, Saratoga Springs superintendent of schools, tells WAMC the district is continuously assessing its safety policies and will undergo a safety audit in October.
“If the feedback and the recommendations come back that, ‘Hey, we need to expand our SRO programs,’ I think that’s something that the Board of Education will continue to make that decision like we did in the past. If there’s that need and there’s an opportunity to expand then that’s a decision the board will make,” said Patton.
Patton said its agreements with the city and county allow for additional trained school resources officers to serve as backups when primary assigned officers are away.
