GREENFIELD, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — At Wednesday’s Greenfield School Committee Meeting, the Committee voted down a motion to begin a comprehensive study and deliberation process to evaluate the potential addition of an SRO, School Resource Officer, to the school district.
Many community members came to the meeting for public comment. The family of a Greenfield High School student gave comment about an incident on September 17th where two students were allegedly injured in an altercation and a lack of communication and action from the school both before and after the incident. The family members, and other community members, expressed a desire to increase school safety, potentially through the placement of an SRO.
Other commenters expressed concern around SROs in schools, although still wanting to see safety concerns addressed.
School Committee member Elizabeth Deneeve discussed the last time SROs were a topic in the school committee and recalled that in 2020 Governor Baker signed an order removing the requirement for SROs in schools. In 2021, into 2022, the discussion was raised around having an SRO again, however, according to member Deneeve, the police department told the schools they would have to pay for the officer. The budgeting, coupled with students and teachers expressing a desire to not have an SRO, and lack of evidence provided to prove SROs were more effective or efficient than conventional dispatched officers, the school committee did not vote to bring SROs back.
Now with the community expressing concern around recent events in schools, the Committee discussed amending the motion or making a new motion to broaden the scope of school safety from SROs to including other potential options as well. The motion was withdrawn and may be taken up at a future meeting after further research.