fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Kingston asks: Should cops patrol school hallways?

by Crispin Kott
June 9, 2021
in Education
3
Kingston schools plan ahead for graduation and other matters

Kingston High School. (Photo by Dion Ogust)

Kingston High School (Photo by Dion Ogust)

The Kingston City School District is seeking public input about whether it should continue contracting with local police departments to provide uniformed officers serving in school districts, and, if so, how that program should look.

The district held a public forum in the Kingston High School auditorium on Monday, May 24, hearing from people on both sides of the issue.

The district has two Kingston Police officers who serve as school resource officers (SRO) at Kingston High School and one at J. Watson Bailey Middle School; M. Clifford Miller Middle School has an SRO through the Town of Ulster Police Department.

The SRO program has come under scrutiny in the last year along with other aspects of policing. In its report earlier this year, the city’s police reform task force suggested changing the agreement with the police department to protect students from being subject to criminal prosecutions for offenses that represent developmentally appropriate adolescent behavior, along with other limitations. Letitia James, the state attorney general, recommended the district abandon its SRO program entirely. “The presence of SROs often perpetuates the same policing inequities that are reflected outside schools, and does not yield a benefit in increased student safety that justifies their continued presence,” wrote James in a March 18 memo. “Accordingly, jurisdictions across the country have mounted efforts to reduce or eliminate police presence in schools.”

That sentiment was echoed by some of the speakers during last week’s meeting at Kingston High, including Malia Cordel, a parent of two students in the district.

“In all of the comments that I’ve heard in support of SROs, whether from parents, community members, teachers, the mayor, or even the chief of police, all seem to be praising the presence of an adult with the freedom to wander the halls and connect emotionally and virtually with students,” said Cordel. “Yet I have heard no reason why someone fulfilling the role must be an armed police officer. I have seen and heard no evidence that SROs are essential to our schools.”

Cordel suggested the district take a “school climate survey” of students, teachers and staff in partnership with groups like Rise Up Kingston, Citizen Action, and the KCSD Committee on Equity in Education to get their thoughts, with the understanding that there may be alternatives that don’t involve having police officers in schools.

“It’s not all or nothing,” Cordel said. “There are many different options in between.”

Jessica Alonzo, a 2019 graduate of KHS with a brother graduating next month, also spoke out against the program.

“I don’t think the SRO should be in the high school, or any school for that matter,” Alonzo said. “I’ve never heard of a student tell me that an SRO has had a positive experience for them. In fact, I’ve actually seen SROs get involved in situations that I feel ended up being traumatic for the student, or just worsened the situation in general.”

Alonzo said her brother has an individualized educational plan and was handcuffed during a “behavioral episode” and taken to the hospital where he had a negative reaction to medication.

“I think that was handled super badly,” Alonzo said. “I think the SROs contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline.”

Alonzo suggested that the district use the money it spends on the SRO program to hire more guidance counselors, enhance the training of security guards, and enlist the assistance of crisis intervention specialists.

But there were also voices of support for the SRO, including Jean Jacobs, who said she helped develop the program during her time on the district’s Board of Education around two decades ago.

“Without a safe school you do not have a school,” Jacobs said. “In the two decades since Columbine, there have been 240 more school shootings…Let’s reinvent education and make the SROs a part of it and instead of dividing us, bring us together. This is what we’re all about ladies and gentlemen. And I firmly believe our community can do that…Every child needs to go out the door in the morning and go to a safe learning environment.”

Jolie Dunham, another former trustee and a music teacher at Arlington High School in Dutchess County, said the SROs are a comfort to students.

“One of their main purposes…is to form relationships and connections to our students,” Dunham said. “These connections and relationships, and I’ve actually seen them happen, can be a lifesaving event for individual students and the school community as a whole. Some students have confided in SRO about issues at home; SRO has been tipped off to impending violence. The police are not our enemy here. There’s no division…Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

Molly Heekin, a second grade teacher at Woodstock Elementary School in the Onteora Central School District and a parent of a son who goes to Bailey Middle School, said she can understand both points of view, but said she favors a school district without police officers in the halls.

“As a biracial young man, my son identifies as black; through his eyes I can see how SROs in schools are not acceptable,” Heekin said. “As a teacher in a district with a beloved SRO who is an integral part of our community I can see how SROs in schools are a wonderful bridge between the police and the community. It is clear that we as a KCSD community need to work towards schools that do not utilize the police department as part of our in-school programming. The white majority in Kingston must have empathy for the experiences of the minority in our community.”

To submit an opinion on the SRO program, visit this link.

Tags: members
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Village of New Paltz trustees announce 2021 Social Justice Scholarship

Next Post

Saugerties American Legion marks Memorial Day

Crispin Kott

Crispin Kott was born in Chicago, raised in New York and has called everywhere from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Atlanta home. A music historian and failed drummer, he’s written for numerous print and online publications and has shared with his son Ian and daughter Marguerite a love of reading, writing and record collecting.

 Crispin Kott is the co-author of the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City (Globe Pequot Press, June 2018), the Little Book of Rock and Roll Wisdom (Lyons Press, October 2018), and the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area (Globe Pequot Press, May 2021).

Related Posts

Saugerties Junior High School announces its second-quarter Honor Roll
Education

Controversy ensues as KCSD walks back Black History Month opt out language

February 4, 2023
Onteora faces “unfathomable” choices as district’s enrollment dwindles
Education

Parents voice concerns over plan to send Onteora sixth graders to middle school in Boiceville

February 2, 2023
Trump’s taking back trans kids’ protections won’t change local approach
Education

Committee works to ensure that every Saugerties student has the opportunity to succeed 

January 31, 2023
News & notes (4/21/21)
Education

Kingston School District weighs priorities as federal COVID funding set to expire later this year

January 30, 2023
“The School will be shot up” written on Miller Middle School’s bathroom wall
Crime

“The School will be shot up” written on Miller Middle School’s bathroom wall

January 30, 2023
Wild Earth collaborates with the KCSD to get kids out of the classroom and into their natural surroundings
Education

Wild Earth collaborates with the KCSD to get kids out of the classroom and into their natural surroundings

January 23, 2023
Next Post
Saugerties American Legion marks Memorial Day

Saugerties American Legion marks Memorial Day

Please login to join discussion

Trending News

  • One-man crime spree comes to end after Kingston man runs out of luck 3.6k views
  • Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5 1.9k views
  • The Bruynswyck Inn Oyster & Clam Bar offers fresh seafood and Shawangunk views 1.5k views
  • 20-foot, 10-wheel big rig overturns in Saugerties, injuring driver 1.2k views
  • Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace 1.1k views
  • Three-story, mixed-use building proposed for Agway property in New Paltz 1k views

Weather

Kingston
◉
14°
Partly Cloudy
7:05 am5:14 pm EST
Feels like: 7°F
Wind: 5mph SSW
Humidity: 29%
Pressure: 30.52"Hg
UV index: 2
SunMonTue
48/30°F
46/23°F
43/34°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

×
You have free article(s) remaining. Subscribe for unlimited access.
View Subscription Offers Sign In
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing