PORTSMOUTH — Creating what the police chief and school superintendent say is a much-needed position, the Town Council Monday night voted unanimously to contribute $35,000 toward the hiring of a school resource officer (SRO) at Portsmouth High School.
The School Department has agreed to kick in another $35,000 and local community organizations have pledged an additional $10,000 to hire the officer, who is expected to earn a salary of about $80,000. Superintendent of Schools Ana Riley and Interim Town Administrator James Lathrop both said they can work together to find the necessary funding in the current budget.
Ms. Riley said the school district where she lives, Fall River, has a school resource officer in every school, although she wasn’t suggesting that was necessary in Portsmouth.
“It’s more than just having an officer on site,” Ms. Riley told the council. She said a resource officer builds relationships with students, which can help to head off problems before they start.
Police Chief Thomas Lee agreed.
“Those relationships are the key to prevention, whether in terms of violence or drug use,” he said. “I think it’s a needed position.”
Chief Lee said the job would be filled from within the Police Department, then the town would hire someone to fill the vacancy. If the SRO’s job was later eliminated, that officer would return to his or her former job. Chief Lee said he didn’t foresee any complications with staff positions due to attrition within the police force.
IT, snow plowing
In a 5-2 vote, the council also agreed to work with the school district on resolving the town’s information technology (IT) issues.
Under the agreement, the schools will be responsible for the town’s day-to-day IT issues and the town’s Department of Public Works will assume responsibility for plowing the schools’ parking lots. The school district currently hires outside contractors for snow removal.
Mr. Lathrop, noting he hopes the town doesn’t have another winter like it just went through, said the agreement would most likely mean “a substantial amount of overtime on the town’s end.”
Still, he said, there’s little risk to the “one-year experiment” because the town can revisit the matter against next year if it doesn’t work out.
Council members Joseph Robicheau and Elizabeth Pedro voted against the agreement. They said they needed assurances that the town wouldn’t still be required to spend money to resolve a major IT problem down the road.
Other council members, however, said they wanted to move forward with a concrete plan for the town and schools to share services.
“This is what we’ve been asking for. This is a great start,” said Council Vice President James Seveney. “I’ll always put my money on a good-faith effort.”
Council President Keith Hamilton agreed. “I see this deal as a great starting-off point,” he said. “If we come back here next year and it hasn’t worked, we can revisit it in the budget.”