During the September 27th Darien Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Addley proposed the installation of School Security Officers (SSOs) at each of the District’s five elementary schools.
SSOs are armed, retired law enforcement officers. The proposal includes hiring six SSOs (one additional to cover in case of illness or other absence) as well as a Director of Security, all of whom would be employees of the District.
Currently MMS and DHS each have School Resource Officers (SROs). SROs are armed, active police officers who report directly to the Darien Chief of Police and are full time employees of the Police Department.
Here is a link to a replay of the Board of Education meeting. Discussion regarding the proposal begins at 52:40. All materials related to the proposal can be found here starting on page 12.
Proposed SSO duties include but are not limited to providing security for the building and grounds, patrolling and monitoring school property for unauthorized persons, reporting and investigating vandalism, enforcing policies and procedures, and responding to incidents, fights or other issues. Additionally, the SSO would assist with student traffic in hallways, arrival and dismissal of students and lunch supervision.
These seven full time employee positions would be funded during the current fiscal year by a special appropriation from the Town of Darien. Going forward, the approximate $500,000 annual cost of these positions would be integrated into the BoE operating budget. The BoE will vote whether to move forward with the proposal at the next meeting on October 11th. After the BoE approves the positions and appropriation, the proposal moves to the Board of Finance and then the RTM.
All parents/guardians are encouraged to voice their opinions on the proposal to Hindley PTO Chairs, Lauren Stevens and Catherine Yates.