Police In Schools Article from THE JOURNAL NEWS
Police officers in public schools
From THE JOURNAL NEWS
By JENNIFER WEIL
(Original Publication: March 30, 2005)
WEST NYACK — On a recent Tuesday morning, 12th-grader Matt Marino approached Clarkstown Police Officer Lorri McGrath in the hallway of Clarkstown South and asked if he could talk with her privately sometime that day.
After discussing their schedules, they agreed on seventh period.
"See you then," McGrath said, as Marino disappeared into a throng of students making their way to class.
After about an hour of circulating through the school's corridors and exchanging greetings, McGrath returned to her office to prepare for late-day meetings with parents and students.
McGrath, 40, is one of five school resource officers the Clarkstown Police Department has stationed in the three school districts within town boundaries: Nanuet, Clarkstown and Nyack. The SROs — paid for by the town and the school districts — act as law enforcers, teachers, friends and confidants to the town's public school students.
SROs are also present in the county's five other public school districts. On Tuesday, an SRO was hired at Fieldstone Secondary School in Thiells to quell fighting.
For more than a decade, the National Association of School Resource Officers has trained thousands of law enforcement officers and school personnel in ways to reduce crime, gangs, drug abuse and violence in the schools.
The nonprofit association's president, John Kotnour, said his organization has been able to trace policing in the schools back as far as the 1950s. The model for today's school resource officers was implemented in the 1960s in Tucson, Ariz.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, such officers became an integral part of the schools throughout the country, but the most growth came in the late 1990s, Kotnour said.
"That's when the federal government started providing grants, and then the SRO program was able to be brought to smaller communities," said Kotnour, who is also an SRO in a Kansas school. The government offers three-year grants, and it is then up to the community to fund the program.
"The grant is kind of like seed money," he said.
Kotnour stressed that SROs were not a reaction to much-publicized tragedies such as the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. For some communities, it's a way to safeguard against such violence, he said.
"I was put in school not because there were problems, but to prevent the problems," he said.
Kotnour said it's difficult to gauge the effectiveness of SRO programs because often there are more incidents reported merely because there's an officer in the school.
Dan Gottfried, a school social worker who has done research on violence in the schools and has two children in the Nyack schools, said the presence of a police officer in the hallways might result in more fear than security.
"When you have an officer in the school, you are communicating to your students that this is not a safe place. That this is a place that needs to be protected," he said. "As soon as you communicate that to someone, their anxiety and concerns go up."
Clarkstown North Principal Dan Nicholson said when Officer Matt Barry first came to the high school in 2000, many of the parents were apprehensive.
"There was this great fear that this was going to be a police state — some of the teachers had the same attitude," he said of the 5-year-old program.
Nicholson said the feelings soon changed as Barry won the trust of students, parents and staff.
Last year, McGrath and Barry were given the Founders Day Award by the Clarkstown Parent- Teacher Association Council for their service in the community and the schools and to the children.
"I think that speaks to how they are perceived and valued in the school," said Clarkstown North PTA Co-president Robin Friehling, who has a son in the 10th grade.
Detective Sgt. Tim O'Neill, who is charge of Clarkstown's SRO program, said its success is evident from how well the officers interact with students and faculty.
"They have to be people who like to deal with people," he said. "They are in that school eight hours a day, and they are reacting with not only the kids, but the staff, the principal and the security there."
Being trustworthy is also a big part of the equation.
"The security end of it is really the minimal part," said O'Neill, who is also a Stony Point town councilman. "It's the trust that they build, and the caring."
McGrath agreed.
"Kids are very, very candid," said the former New York City police officer and mother of two. "Once you make that connection, they will open up to you. It's a thing that has to be built up."
When Clarkstown South junior Jason Berg and a friend, senior Justin Walpole, recently had a disagreement, they decided to talk to McGrath and see if she could work out the problem.
"She understands us," said Berg, 17. "She doesn't prejudge, and she hears both sides."
Berg and Walpole also said they spoke with McGrath because they felt more comfortable with her than a school guidance counselor because they knew her from the district's Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.
Clarkstown North junior Philippe Pierre said he thinks Barry is a real asset to the school.
"He can give you advice dealing with something at home or at school," the 16-year-old said. "He keeps everyone in line."
"There would definitely be more drama in the school," said Clarkstown North sophomore Dana Dauro. "No one's going to do something when he's here."
McGrath has been at Clarkstown South for five years. Friday is her last day because she is being promoted to detective.
"I am going to miss the students, teachers and faculty," she said. "I call this my school."
From THE JOURNAL NEWS
By JENNIFER WEIL
(Original Publication: March 30, 2005)
WEST NYACK — On a recent Tuesday morning, 12th-grader Matt Marino approached Clarkstown Police Officer Lorri McGrath in the hallway of Clarkstown South and asked if he could talk with her privately sometime that day.
After discussing their schedules, they agreed on seventh period.
"See you then," McGrath said, as Marino disappeared into a throng of students making their way to class.
After about an hour of circulating through the school's corridors and exchanging greetings, McGrath returned to her office to prepare for late-day meetings with parents and students.
McGrath, 40, is one of five school resource officers the Clarkstown Police Department has stationed in the three school districts within town boundaries: Nanuet, Clarkstown and Nyack. The SROs — paid for by the town and the school districts — act as law enforcers, teachers, friends and confidants to the town's public school students.
SROs are also present in the county's five other public school districts. On Tuesday, an SRO was hired at Fieldstone Secondary School in Thiells to quell fighting.
For more than a decade, the National Association of School Resource Officers has trained thousands of law enforcement officers and school personnel in ways to reduce crime, gangs, drug abuse and violence in the schools.
The nonprofit association's president, John Kotnour, said his organization has been able to trace policing in the schools back as far as the 1950s. The model for today's school resource officers was implemented in the 1960s in Tucson, Ariz.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, such officers became an integral part of the schools throughout the country, but the most growth came in the late 1990s, Kotnour said.
"That's when the federal government started providing grants, and then the SRO program was able to be brought to smaller communities," said Kotnour, who is also an SRO in a Kansas school. The government offers three-year grants, and it is then up to the community to fund the program.
"The grant is kind of like seed money," he said.
Kotnour stressed that SROs were not a reaction to much-publicized tragedies such as the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. For some communities, it's a way to safeguard against such violence, he said.
"I was put in school not because there were problems, but to prevent the problems," he said.
Kotnour said it's difficult to gauge the effectiveness of SRO programs because often there are more incidents reported merely because there's an officer in the school.
Dan Gottfried, a school social worker who has done research on violence in the schools and has two children in the Nyack schools, said the presence of a police officer in the hallways might result in more fear than security.
"When you have an officer in the school, you are communicating to your students that this is not a safe place. That this is a place that needs to be protected," he said. "As soon as you communicate that to someone, their anxiety and concerns go up."
Clarkstown North Principal Dan Nicholson said when Officer Matt Barry first came to the high school in 2000, many of the parents were apprehensive.
"There was this great fear that this was going to be a police state — some of the teachers had the same attitude," he said of the 5-year-old program.
Nicholson said the feelings soon changed as Barry won the trust of students, parents and staff.
Last year, McGrath and Barry were given the Founders Day Award by the Clarkstown Parent- Teacher Association Council for their service in the community and the schools and to the children.
"I think that speaks to how they are perceived and valued in the school," said Clarkstown North PTA Co-president Robin Friehling, who has a son in the 10th grade.
Detective Sgt. Tim O'Neill, who is charge of Clarkstown's SRO program, said its success is evident from how well the officers interact with students and faculty.
"They have to be people who like to deal with people," he said. "They are in that school eight hours a day, and they are reacting with not only the kids, but the staff, the principal and the security there."
Being trustworthy is also a big part of the equation.
"The security end of it is really the minimal part," said O'Neill, who is also a Stony Point town councilman. "It's the trust that they build, and the caring."
McGrath agreed.
"Kids are very, very candid," said the former New York City police officer and mother of two. "Once you make that connection, they will open up to you. It's a thing that has to be built up."
When Clarkstown South junior Jason Berg and a friend, senior Justin Walpole, recently had a disagreement, they decided to talk to McGrath and see if she could work out the problem.
"She understands us," said Berg, 17. "She doesn't prejudge, and she hears both sides."
Berg and Walpole also said they spoke with McGrath because they felt more comfortable with her than a school guidance counselor because they knew her from the district's Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.
Clarkstown North junior Philippe Pierre said he thinks Barry is a real asset to the school.
"He can give you advice dealing with something at home or at school," the 16-year-old said. "He keeps everyone in line."
"There would definitely be more drama in the school," said Clarkstown North sophomore Dana Dauro. "No one's going to do something when he's here."
McGrath has been at Clarkstown South for five years. Friday is her last day because she is being promoted to detective.
"I am going to miss the students, teachers and faculty," she said. "I call this my school."
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