The Cazenovia school district’s School Safety Forum last week was an outstanding event. Simply outstanding. There was a large crowd of students, parents, law enforcement officials and district officials all of whom were there filled with a passion and a concern to help the district improve the safety of our schools. The forum’s format of having tables of people discuss specific topics, write their ideas down on posters and then post those ideas around the gym so all could see, was highly conducive to teamwork, collaboration and knowledge-sharing. The school district will soon post all those ideas on its website, which will allow everyone who was not at the forum to see what was discussed and the ways in which improving school safety is being addressed.
Great ideas were offered, long-sought questions were answered, misunderstandings were erased and, for many people, some concerns were alleviated. But it was clear there is much that can be done, and, as Project Café member Jamie Joseph said, this needs to be a starting point to continue to conversation on keeping our schools safe and our students secure.
One of the many impressive aspects of the forum that struck us particularly was the disconnect between students and parents about day-to-day life inside our schools. Many parents realized they could not answer some of the questions put to them because they just do not know what happens inside school walls every day, while the students themselves realized how much parents and community members just do not understand the interior school workings and culture. Fixing this will be a good step in improving school safety simply by offering everyone more awareness and knowledge of student life.
A constant refrain heard throughout the forum was the feeling that Cazenovia should have school resource officers, whether as general security, as entry door security or as a combination of security and student advocate/counselor/confidant. We agree with the latter idea, officers who are present to protect, but who can also teach students, listen to them and be a friend and confidant. This is an integral part of what is known as community policing — something that budget cuts have forced departments across the U.S. to cut out.
The question for Cazenovia is, who will pay for this? In our many conversations throughout our community, we constantly hear that, of course, everyone is willing to pay a little extra in taxes to keep our kids safe. But when it comes to budget time, adding those dollars to the budget suddenly becomes difficult. The police are funded by the village, but the school district comprises the entire town, that is one roadblock to funding: three municipal entities and three budgets (village, town and school district).
In our view, if you want school resource officers or just more police attention to our three school buildings, you need to hire more police officers. That is the purview of the village and the village board. In the past six years, the board has refused to even have a full complement of full-time officers on staff.
It is now village budget time, and, according to our sources, the police budget is increased 6 percent in the current draft of the 2018-19 village budget — the smallest increase of any department. The Cazenovia Tree Commission’s budget is up 30 percent, from $10,000 to $15,000, while the fire department budget is up over 60 percent.
Why is it more important, apparently, for the village to spend money on trees than on our police department, particularly at a time when school safety is of major — and nearly unanimous — concern? That is something we do not understand.
As Police Chief Michael Hayes said at the school forum last week, multiple people told him they want a police officer to walk through or otherwise check on our schools every day for added security, yet people do not understand that the chief is the only police officer on duty during the day — and he also has to complete his administrative duties as chief during that shift.
In other words, unless the village hires more police officers or agrees to fund school resources officers, or the village, school district and town create funding to hire school resource officers, there is no manpower in the police department to do any sort of safety checks on our schools.
If you want more security in our schools, tell the village board to increase police department funding. The board’s next budget work session, which is open to the public, is at 6 p.m. this Thursday, March 29, in the village board meeting room in village hall.
