By Hank Russell
The Riverhead Central School District recently announced that, starting this coming school year, two armed guards, or school resource officers (SROs), will be stationed at the high school and the middle school.
In a letter sent to district residents on July 24, the school’s superintendent of schools, Cheryl Pedisich, wrote, “The SROs will enhance the safety and security at these two buildings, while also serving as helpful resources for our students and their families, providing educational opportunities, and enhancing the relationships of students and the community with law enforcement.”
Pedisich also noted in the letter that talks of having SROs in the schools started “over a year ago,” with the conversation also entailing “the logistics of responsibilities and costs.” The Board of Education (BOE) had also discussed this topic for the past two years.
During the BOE’s meeting on July 22, the board unanimously approved a resolution in which the school would enter into an agreement with the town of Riverhead in which the town would provide SROs to the school district. During the 2024-25 school year, the town will cover 75% of the cost. After that, the school will share the expenses with the town.
Long Island Life & Politics reached out to the Town of Riverhead for comment, but did not hear back as of press time.
Pedisich emphasized that the SROs have taken part in the Council for Unity class, so they are already familiar to the students. She also noted that they will not administer disciplinary measures against any students who break school rules — that will be handled by the school — nor will they be able to search students’ lockers.
“In addition to providing enhanced security at our high school and middle school, as SROs do at school districts across Long Island, our SROs will be a resource for students and families and instruct specialized classes involving a range of subjects, such as security, crime prevention, drug and alcohol education, and related topics,” Pedisich wrote.
As the letter pointed out, Riverhead is not the first school district on Long Island to have armed guards, Back in May, the Farmingdale School District approved having SROs at its schools. Before Riverhead made the decision, there were at least 20 districts on the Island that have armed guards patrolling the schools.
LILP has long been an advocate for having armed guards at schools. Additionally, in a poll conducted by LILP, almost three-fourths of respondents wanted an armed retired police officer at the schools and more than half wanted teachers who are trained in firearm safety to be armed.