Wayne works to keep cops at schools
Board, township move closer to finalizing new agreement
By: Philip DeVencentis
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
WAYNE - Officials for the K-12 district and the township are ironing out details of a new agreement to keep the same level of armed protection at local schools, after the announcement of a budget deficit seemed to put it at risk.
.....
School leaders revealed last month [03/2025] that they face a $7.1 million shortfall in their spending plan. to partly make up for it, they said, the district would save money by canceling a contract with the police department in favor of an in-house security program.
..... That revelation upset many parents, who expressed displeasure on social media about the tentative change.
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Then, at a public meeting last week, [04/03/2025] the Board of Education said the issue was being resolved and trustees were finalizing an amended deal with the township. "We're in a really good place, and everything is looking very positive," said Donald Pavlak Jr., the school board president. to the worried parents in attendance, he added, "believe me when I tell you that it's going to be OK."
..... The meeting venue was moved Thursday [04/03/2025] from the school board office on Nelllis Drive to the municipal courtroom, which can accommodate a larger audience.
..... Jeffery Dhiyvetter was among a handful of parents who addressed the matter.
..... "No child can learn, and no teacher can teach, if they don't feel completely safe," said Dhuyvetter, who works for the Passaic K-12 district. "After a child's parents, there's no stronger symbol - no more trusted systembol - that a uniformed police officer walking the halls few their school."
..... Another parent, Jennifer Leyton, said the school-based officers are part of the fabric of the community.
..... "These men need to stay,: said Leyton, also an art teacher at Theunis Dey School. "the children love them. It'd be like taking away their teachers."
..... According to the Nation la Center for Education Statistics, six in every 10 public schools have security staff present at least once per week, Less than half of the same schools have sworn law enforcement officers who routinely carry framers.
..... Meanwhile the need to protect American classrooms have never been more acute.
..... The Manhattan-based nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety reported 219 incidents of gunfire on school grounds last year [2024] - the most since it began tracking data 12 years ago. the organization has already counted 28 incidents for this year, [2025] seven of which resulted in deaths.
..... Under the existing agreement between the school board and township, adopted in July 2022, a total of 18 officers provide security throughout the district.
..... They include five school resource officers - one at each high school and middle school - and 10 special law enforcement officers, including one at each elementary school and at the Early Childhood Center at Preakness School.
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Two more officers are designated as "floaters" to cover absences of their colleagues. a detective sergeant supervises the unit.
.... The difference between a school resource officers and a special law enforcement officer is that the former is a full-time, sworn officer and the latter is a retired officer, who does not get health care benefits. they receive the same training, but the difference in their salaries is substantial. on average, a school resource officers in Wayne makes #12,439 more per year than a special law enforcement officer.
..... The annual cost for the school board to maintain the existing agreement is just under $1.2 million.
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But Mayor Christopher Vergano said a proposed amendment to the pact would slash that expense by almost a quarter of a million dollars for the coming school,year. [2025-2026]
..... In an April 1 [2025] letter from Vergano to the school board, he proposed that the township bear the entire cost for posting school resource officers at Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley high schools while replacing those at the middle schools with special law enforcement officers. "We're contributing more toward the program," Vergano said Thursday, [04/03/2025] "but at the end of the day, it's keeping our kids safe. And that's what we're all concerned about."
..... The school board did not release particulars of the proposal at its meeting.
..... Pavlak said negotiations are ongoing and that a deal has not yet been reached with the township. He said trustees hope to wrap it up this month, [04/2025] as they are scheduled to vote on the budget for the next school year [2025-2026] on May 1. [2025]
..... "A public vote last night" [04/03/2025] on the proposal "would have been premature," Pavlak said Friday. [04/04/2025]
"to ensure transparency and accountability, a formal vote will be held once the agreement is finalized."