MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) Policy Committee is set to meet next Monday after a meeting last week provided no resolution regarding school resource officers (SROs) for the upcoming school year.
The current memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Manchester Police Department and the Manchester School District expires at the beginning of the 2020-’21 school year, but with the lack of in-person learning for most students, the urgency of approving a MOU was uncertain.
Committee Member Arthur Beaudry asked for clarification on the number of SROs in Manchester’s schools, noting a portion of the MOU that appeared to indicate that there would be two SROs in every school.
Manchester Police Department Chief Carlo Capano clarified that there were two SROs at Manchester Central High School, which he noted has a population larger than some New Hampshire towns and was in need of a second SRO to deal with fights and other violence. This second SRO came from Manchester Memorial High School, which then necessitated the addition of new SROs at Memorial and West during peak hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Beaudry also added that it was important to address the root cause of violence within Manchester’s high schools, something outside of the SROs’ mandate.
With the agenda already bleeding into a BOSC Finance Committee meeting scheduled to start, most of the discussion was focused on parliamentary procedure and the urgency of a decision on the MOU itself.
Committee Member Jim O’Connell asked the committee to approve a temporary MOU, so at least some agreement would be in place, with additional talks for a permanent MOU to be conducted during the fall.
This request was challenged by Beaudry, who felt that it made no sense to spend time approving an MOU only to invest further time in another MOU in the near future, particularly since the majority of students would not be back in school until November.
O’Connell’s motion to approve the MOU with additional discussion on another MOU vote was called to question, but Beaudry made a motion to table the decision after Committeeman Dan Bergeron asked Capano if “the process has gotten away from SROs” in schools and Committeman Peter Perich said SRO quarterly reports are available.
Confusion arose, with BOSC Clerk Angela Carey indicating that a motion to table takes precedence.
Capano expressed concern with the lack of a decision, indicating that his department would be in limbo if students returned for in-person learning earlier than expected, with Manchester School Department Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Gillis noting that some younger students, special needs students and vocational students at the Manchester School of Technology would be back at school in September.
O’Connell then requested that a temporary MOU be put in place until Dec. 31, with additional discussion to occur at a later date to allow further discussion.
“This is a terrible thing to do to ourselves, creating this artificial emergency deadline,” he said.
Beaudry expressed frustration with that request, citing that the motion had already been tabled, precluding further immediate discussion.
He also expressed frustration at the fact that the meeting was bleeding into the scheduled BOSC Finance Committee meeting, which he chairs.
A request for a phone poll, which then could be voted on by the full BOSC next Monday was shot down, leading to a special meeting of the Policy Committee prior to the full board scheduled for 5 p.m.
A copy of the MOU and related information from the meeting’s packet can be found below.