The following article,
written by Heather Plonchak, is reprinted from The
Saugerties Times, 01-24-08 On the Table Saugerties Times , January 24,
2008 A 2007 Gallup Poll shows that 24 percent of parents in
the U.S. fear for their children’s safety while they
are attending school. Twelve percent of children fear for
their own safety during school hours. Since the Columbine
High School shooting in 1999, schools across the nation have
been taking additional measures to ensure student safety. A
proposal for one such measure came before the Saugerties
Board of Education at their December meeting, and has
remained on the table since, with the board deciding to wait
until budget workshops commence in March. School administrators proposed the creation of a new
position, safety and residency officer, for the district.
The part-time position would save the district thousands of
dollars according to superintendent of schools Richard Rhau,
because, in addition to encompassing the responsibility for
the safety of the district’s buildings, students, and
staff, the officer would be charged with ferreting out those
students who should not be attending school within the
district because of their place of residence. On the safety side, the proposed job description for the
position includes participating in safety inspections of
district buildings, providing training for door monitors,
coordinating training in performing the Heimlich maneuver
and other life-saving techniques and using the
district’s automatic external defibrillators for
appropriate staff. Additionally, the SRO (not to be confused with the school
resource officer, a police officer stationed at the high
school during school hours) would be responsible for
addressing safety concerns of students, parents, staff, and
residents, as well as investigating all accidents reported
on school property or an authorized off-campus event. The
position would be responsible for ensuring the
district’s compliance with local, state, and federal
regulations and procedures in these and certain other areas.
He or she would implement policies relating to the safety of
the students and staff, and to ensure that all safety and
security measures are operational and effective. “If it makes our schools and the children safer,
it’s worth it,” said superintendent Rhau,
explaining that having someone to improve the safety of the
buildings and those within them has the potential to save
the district from costly lawsuits. As the title suggests, the safety and residency officer
will also be responsible for investigations into the
residency of students. According to Rhau, numerous
complaints are made each year regarding students who should
not be attending the school district. As it costs the
district approximately $12,000 per year to educate each
student, discovering those students who do not actually
reside in the district will save the district thousands of
dollars. “If this person discovers just one student each
year, the position pays for itself,” explained
Rhau. Saugertiesians only Earlier this year, the district called upon the services
of a door monitor at Cahill Elementary to perform
investigations into a few students whose residency was in
question. This individual, a retired police investigator
from the Rochester area, discovered that the district was
paying tuition costs for a special education student who did
not, in fact, reside in the Saugerties Central School
District. By law, the school district is responsible to pay tuition
costs and sometimes transportation costs for special
education students whose individual education plan (IEP)
call for services that cannot be provided in-house. Although
the exact amount of money saved by the district in this case
was not disclosed, these tuition costs can be tens of
thousands of dollars, depending on the school the student
attends and the services needed. “If the individual in this position can save the
district, let’s say $50,000 per year, after four years,
that’s $200 thousand. It really adds up,” said
Rhau. Rhau added that not only could these investigations save
the district thousands of dollars in tuition and education
costs for each student, but they could save district
resources, reduce class sizes, and help the district in
numerous other less obvious ways. Rhau used special education again as an example to
illustrate his point. Special education classes have very
strict class size limits. If a class is limited to seven
students, and is full, one more student entering the
district means it must, by law, hire an additional teacher
to handle the overflow. Currently, the responsibilities contained within the
proposed position are split up amongst many members of the
schools’ faculty. Different people at each building are
responsible for different things. For example, the
districts’ automatic external defibrillators are in the
possession of the chairpersons of physical education at each
building, while building principals or their designees are
responsible for investigating accidents. Each building
splits the tasks between staff in various ways. Rhau is concerned with the current staff becoming
overloaded with responsibilities that would be best served
being handled by one person on a district-wide basis.
“I’m not saying that these things aren’t
getting done, but they are not always the primary focus. If
this position were to be created, all of these things would
stay in the forefront. This person would be solely
responsible for safety, security, and residency. It would be
all this person dealt with, which really would be a better
situation.” This theory was questioned at the December school board
meeting. Board member George Heidcamp is concerned. “I have
several questions about the responsibilities contained in
that job description.” Heidcamp continued, “If
there are other people doing these things now, why are we
taking away their responsibilities? I’m not opposed to
the concept of it, I need to know more about it before I can
say one way or the other.” According to Heidcamp, that meeting was the first time
that the board had heard of the recommendation for the
position, another point that did not sit well with him. School board president Donald Tucker was also not ready
to make a decision. “I’m not committed to whether
I’m for or against the position yet,” said Tucker.
“I understand the administration’s point of view,
and if it can expose and take care of non-residents, then
it’s a good thing.” According to Tucker, the board will next discuss the
position during the budget workshops, which begin on March
26.