Due to budget cuts, Syracuse middle schools were forced to relocate six city police officers that previously worked within the schools to maintain a safe environment for students.

The schools could no longer afford the $300,000 annual cost to utilize these officers. District Chief Financial Officer Suzanne Slack said budget cuts were made to multiple areas.

‘There was a budget deficit of $50 million so we cut everything — supplies, furniture, contracts. The Security Department reviewed their budget, and they didn’t feel great about it but said these cuts would have the least impact on the security of the schools.’

There are still school monitors used in the schools, which cost less, Slack said.

‘We would love to have them back if we could,’ she said, ‘but we had to make choices.’

To close the budget gap, the school district was forced to cut 464 positions. The six officers that were removed from the schools are still employed and have now been placed into community policing roles. The officers remain in close proximity to the schools and would be available to respond should the schools need them, said Sgt. Gary Bulinski of the Syracuse Police Department.

Thomas Ristoff, the director of security for the district, said his department didn’t have the funds to keep the officers.

‘It’s not that we didn’t want to keep them, it was solely a fiscal decision because we could no longer afford to keep them,’ he said.

Ristoff said that, so far, the response has been mixed. Some citizens have stated that they did not think it was worth their tax dollars to have the officers in place, he said. Ristoff noted that the norm for Central New York middle schools is not to have any officers in schools at all, and the Syracuse middle schools were lucky to have had this security in place for the years that they did.

On Sept. 14, Syracuse Teachers Association President Kevin Ahern asked the school board to consider bringing back the middle school officers, according to an article in The Post-Standard the same day. ‘As I stated last year during the budget process, I think these positions will be sorely missed,’ Ahern said in the article.

Despite the cuts, the schools are still working to maintain a safe environment for students. Bulinski said he is not concerned about the safety of students without the officers.

‘I think people enjoy having the police right on the scene, but there are still officers in the high schools and the community officers will be in close proximity and are available for a very rapid response if needed,’ said Bulinski.

Ristoff also said he was optimistic about the safety of students in the future.

‘I don’t see a lot of problems coming out of the cuts. A lot of what the officers did was more of a preventative piece,’ Ristoff said. ‘There are other district security staff members in place, like the Sentry School Safety program, that are used to manage aggressive behavior. Students and staff can go to them. They’re not law enforcement officials, but they keep students focused on earning their credits and staying on the path to graduation.’

kfluttma@syr.edu

Published on September 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm