School resource officer proposal defeated in Greenfield

Greenfield High School

Greenfield High School STAFF FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

Staff Writer

Published: 10-10-2024 6:12 PM

GREENFIELD — School Committee members voted 5-2 against a proposal from Mayor Ginny Desorgher to study the possibility of stationing a school resource officer in one of the district’s schools.

The proposal was brought to the committee last month after the FBI came to Greenfield to investigate social media posts threatening violence against local schools. Discussion continued at Wednesday’s meeting, which opened with a parent reflecting on what she described as a cafeteria fight in September that resulted in at least one Greenfield High School student being hospitalized with head injuries.

“He kept getting multiple blows to the back of his head. … This kid broke his hand on the back of my son’s head. My son suffered with three lacerations. His sweatshirt was soaked with blood,” said Cambrie Carme, mother of one of the boys involved in the alleged fight. “I just keep hearing that police officers aren’t going to work, aren’t going to work — then what is going to work? Because whatever is happening now in our school is not working.”

Desorgher, who also sits on the School Committee, and committee member Melodie Goodwin voted in favor of re-opening consideration of an SRO, while other members expressed concern that students would not be comfortable with law enforcement in their schools, along with doubt that an SRO would be effective in the event of an imminent threat to student safety.

Although the vote failed, committee member Ann Childs agreed to research security measures the School Department could take to keep its students safe, which includes, at the request of committee member Stacey Sexton, student comfort, or “emotional safety.”

“Safety is an, as of yet, undefined term. We have not set for ourselves what we mean by safety,” Sexton said. “We’re also talking about safety emotionally, safety among peers and safety of expression.”

Committee member Elizabeth DeNeeve also noted that the committee voted against an SRO position in 2020, not only because of budgetary concerns, but due to a “flood” of students who spoke against having an SRO present in their schools.

Among those who spoke during the public comment period was David Moscaritolo, chair of the city’s Public Safety Commission, who said that while he understands many in the community fear or distrust police, he does not believe contention around the issue justifies “not having a plan in place to protect [the district’s] students and teachers.”

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“Over the years, we know how much school violence there has been across the country and we know there has been horrible gun violence,” Moscaritolo said. “We need to be proactive — if something tragic happened at one of our schools, I, as a resident and a public safety commissioner, wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

Many of those who spoke publicly about SROs on Wednesday did so in favor of them, such as Precinct 3 City Councilor Michael Mastrototaro, who said the committee is putting its “head in the sand” amid a national trend of school violence and shootings, or Human Rights Commission Chair Mpress Bennu, who argued against politicizing an issue that is rooted in student safety.

“We’re pleading with you here today to protect our children. You have a right to protect our children and our children deserve to be protected,” Bennu said. “This is a basic human rights issue.”

Others, such as Ursa Scherer, argued that SROs are not an effective defense against school shootings, claiming that although there has been an increase in school shootings, SROs are also being hired more frequently in schools across the country.

Childs, who voted “no” on Wednesday, argued that conversation centered around SROs is too narrow an approach to student safety.

“We do need a broader approach to, ‘What are the variables at play? How can we make the schools safe? What will work for Greenfield?’” Childs said. “Just a simple, ‘Should we discuss SROs?’ is so limiting that I’m afraid it will close us down from looking into other ways to improve safety.”

In response to the controversy surrounding SRO placement, Police Chief Todd Dodge announced his department will hold a meet-and-greet event with the officers who could be assigned as SROs, should a proposal be approved, at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at the John Zon Community Center.

“The discussions relative to [SROs] returning to our schools is seemingly becoming a highly contentious issue. I don’t want this to happen. Those who are in opposition to this have used quotes such as ‘not all personalities are suited for such a sensitive position’ and ‘the mere presence of an officer in our schools is traumatizing to some students.’ I’m certain all of this is true to some degree,” Dodge wrote in a Facebook post. “The Greenfield Police is offering everyone an opportunity to meet the actual officers who would be assigned to this position so that individuals can make better decisions as it relates to their children. See for yourselves and decide for yourselves if you believe these officers would be an asset or a hindrance to the school operation.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.