School safety dominated the discussion at the Pattern breakfast Tuesday, as it is doing
across the nation
POUGHKEEPSIE – County leaders are seriously addressing the recent outcry for better school safety following the string of national school-shooting incidences and demonstrations connected to March for Our Lives.
At the Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress Annual County Leaders Breakfast on Tuesday, officials said they are looking to proactively ramp up school safety and are not waiting for the state, or fed, to do it for them.
Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus was among them.
“We’ve taken a position that Washington hasn’t been able to make a decision, Albany’s not sure what’s going on,” Neuhaus said. “I can’t wait for those guys to come and take the lead, so we are taking the lead in Orange County, working with our school districts and local police departments, including the sheriff’s office and state police.”
Neuhaus said the county has consulted with the police advisory board, consisting of top officers from the state police and sheriff’s office on a new strategy. According to Neuhaus, the local school districts have already been made aware of the developments, which will be made public during his State of the County address next week; however, the decision will be left open to the individual school districts as to how to implement the new strategies.
Officials are also looking at increasing the presence of School Resource Officers (SROs).
Sullivan County Legislative Chairman Luis Alvarez said this is something he feels particularly strong about, having been a former SRO himself. He said although state budgeting for SROs is uncertain, he believes having a local solution can be a major deterrent for would-be shooters.
“I very strongly believe that we should have more security in our schools,” Alvarez said. “I strongly believe that every school should have an SRO. This SRO should come from a local municipality. It should either be the sheriff’s department, or a local village or town police department should have that SRO because they have continuous connection with that police officer.”
Currently, each school in Sullivan County, at least, has an SRO, but Alvarez said the county is working to get the funding for three, or four, additional local SROs to add to schools with more than one building. Ideally, he said, their goal will be to have one SRO per school building.
Also participating in the Pattern discussion on Tuesday was Ulster County
Executive Michael Hein and Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro..
