The Saugerties Central School District will begin interviewing security firms this week following the results of a community survey which saw overwhelming support for armed guards in elementary and secondary schools. Guards are likely to be in all of the district’s schools by the start of the 2023-24 school year.
Superintendent Dan Erceg presented the findings of the survey during a meeting of the Board of Education held on Tuesday, July 11. Of the 331 unique responses to the survey, 70 percent identified themselves as parents, 35 percent district employees and 4 percent students.
Around 81.6 percent of respondents said they would support armed certified security guards in the district’s elementary schools, compared to 14.5 percent who would not. Support was even higher at the high school level, where 83.3 percent favored armed certified security guards and 13.4 percent did not.
The results were further broken down into specific cohorts, with 86.7 percent of those who identified as elementary school parents supporting armed security guards, 12 percent opposing them and 1.3 percent undecided. Of the secondary parents, 82.4 percent supported armed guards on the Jr./Sr. High School campus, while 13.4 percent opposed it and 4.2 percent were undecided.
Both elementary (85.7 percent) and secondary (84.6 percent) favored armed guards in their schools, as did elementary (80.9 percent) and secondary (81.7 percent) employees.
The survey also left room for specific comments, with around a dozen samples shown during Erceg’s presentation.
“Armed security personal (sic) can respond with force if facing a threat of equivalent force,” wrote one supporter of armed guards. “An unarmed security guard is as much at risk of a potential shooting as other students and faculty, which provides little extra protection.”
“TIME=LIFE,” wrote another respondent. “Having an armed security guard could provide lifesaving seconds, minutes, or hopefully zero harm. As we know in ANY safety situation, every second counts.”
“There is absolutely no reason for our kids to not be protected to the fullest,” wrote a third supported.
The comments also showed the other side of the argument as well.
“It only reinforces gun culture, which is the problem in the first place,” wrote a respondent who opposed armed security. “Please, instead, use taxpayer resources to educate about gun violence — that’s your mission and our only hope.”
“When our teachers are armed with everything they need to provide healthy social and emotional wellness for their students and themselves, then we can begin to consider budgeting for a security guard at the schools,” wrote another.
“Guns don’t belong in a school,” wrote a third respondent who opposed armed security.
Erceg said that after the results of the survey were tallied, the district sent requests for proposals to eight security firms, receiving responses from four.
“We have opened those packets and we’ve identified companies that we’d like to interview with,” Erceg said, asking trustees to sit in on the interviews if their schedules allowed. “After interviewing those security firms then we’ll ultimately be making a recommendation to the Board about which company to use and then which path to take.”
Erceg said the district also plans to meet with building principals, the school resource officers assigned through the Saugerties Police Department, and the security firm the School Board approves to discuss expectations. School officials will follow up over the course of the school year to ensure the project is working as anticipated, the superintendent said.
Erceg added that the Mt. Marion Education Center, which houses the district’s universal pre-kindergarten program, was not included in the survey as the facility is a partnership with Ulster BOCES, and security decisions for the building will be a separate discussion.
Trustee James Mooney expressed concerns about the future of the district’s security.
“I’m very much against armed security,” he said.“I’m not against an armed SRO as they’re trained. I think if this is the will of the public, it is the will of the public.”
Mooney said he would like to see special training for armed security guards with relation to the district’s special education students, particularly those on the autism spectrum.
“Special ed students, especially autistic people, are more likely to not survive a police encounter than other people,” Mooney said. “They can’t follow directions, they don’t follow commands, communication is an issue. I just want to go on record that I’m against it and that if this is the way we’re going to proceed please make sure that the training is in place.”
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