Newark Officer, park land discussed
By John Zornow

Newark School Board met Tuesday and discussed actions taken by Mayor Peter Blandino at the last village board meeting. Blandino had announced that the village will not supply a School Resource Officer from the Police Dept. to the middle and high schools.

School Superintendent Robert Christmann, who was present at that meeting, as was board member Steve Murphy, said the action was a surprise.

School Board VP Nick Santino said, 'We are not in a position to tell the village how to run their business.' Santino added, 'There are no unsafe situations going on in our district.' He called the resource officer position 'an enhancement' and said what is going on is a breakdown of communications.

When interviewed by the Courier-Gazette after last week's village meeting, Christmann said the district is concerned about the safety of our students, and added, 'We can't do our best work in instruction when student's safety is questioned.'

Santino questioned a media report that there were 54 arrests at the school last year. Alternatives were discussed regarding asking the State Police or Sheriff's Office to supply a resource officer, with replies that those agencies do not have the personnel or money to assist the district.

The school board will research what can be done to take the place of the duties performed by the resource officer. There is funding in place in the form of $15,000 from the town, $15,000 in the school budget, and $15,000 from the village budget (in lieu of providing a police officer). The possibility of hiring off-duty police officers, or retired officers was put on the table for discussion. Board member John Vair stressed, 'We need to take steps to open channels of communication.'

School/village issues - Other issues introduced recently are the heating problems in the District Offices on the 4th floor of the Municipal Building, proposed new home construction, and Lincoln School. School District and Town of Arcadia staff are upset about the inability to control heating in their offices. Village board members agreed to look into the situation.

The controversy over the Southwinds Landing subdivision began when the school board stated they are in no position to contribute towards infrastructure costs, and were informed by the school attorney that it was illegal to do so.

At Lincoln School, Christmann said there's a question about ownership of the access road (off Frey St.) to the North Main Street school. The school board will probably send representatives to the September 6 Village Board meeting to discuss these issues, as well as the school resource officer.

The Mayor said yesterday that a letter was hand delivered in time for the school board meeting. Blandino said he's investigating potential ramifications of the alienation of park property (behind Lincoln School). The Southwinds Landing Subdivision issue 'is off the table,' respecting the district's position, and no further discussion is necessary.

Blandino will ask the board to allocate the $15,000 village share to enable the district to secure one to three part-time people to fulfill the needs defined by the district administration for student and faculty safety.

Blandino said if someone calls 911, Police should respond to any school in one to three minutes.

For more on Tuesday night's School Board meeting, pick up tomorrow's print issue of the Courier-Gazette.

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