Darien School Board Approves Funds For Armed Security Officers

DARIEN, CT — The Darien Board of Education this week unanimously approved an appropriation request of $296,000 to hire a director of security and six armed School Security Officers (SSO) for the town's five elementary schools.

The board also unanimously voted to approve a request for $335,000 for door security upgrades around the school district.

Originally, the board was considering a request of $500,000 for the security officers and director, which would cover the entire school year.

The district is aiming to have the new personnel in place in the first week of January 2023, so a motion was made to lower the funding request to match the cost from January to June.

The security plan was developed in close consultation with the Darien Police Chief Donald Anderson.

Darien High School and Middlesex Middle School already have School Resource Officers (SRO), which is slightly different than an SSO.

An SRO is defined by the district as "a sworn and armed law-enforcement officer with arrest powers who works, either full or part time, in a school setting. In addition to school safety and security, school resource officers are expected to partner with the school for student education and community outreach."

According to the plan, an SSO is "an armed and sworn law-enforcement officer not currently active in the police department. SSOs do not have arrest powers and primarily serve as a safety and security resource for schools."

During this week's regularly scheduled board meeting, member Tara Ochman said she felt a more susbtantial public hearing should've taken place to get a better sense from the community on how it felt about the security plan.

"I just feel like we've done it on issues that are less of cultural shift. I'm just surprised we haven't done it here," he said.

Fellow board member Julie Best said a public hearing would serve as a way to understand what the public's concerns are, what their hopes are for the director of security position.

"There's a big piece of this that we've discussed that's about making people feel safer," Best said, adding that more input would allow the board to make a better informed decision. "Then I think we're able to make our decision we need to make with the expert recommendations we're receiving, but also consider the nuances and the ways to make it work the best way it can for our community."

Board Chair David Dineen said the board has gone through the process in executive session, and that Superintendent of Schools Dr. Alan Addley has gotten the word out to the community about the security plan.

"I think we're in our second meeting and full discussion on this. Even in public comment this evening, there just wasn't that many public comments around it for or against it," he said. "I don't know what more we can do to get the information out there."

Dineen added that he's confidence in executing the plan that's been put together.

Darien Police Chief Donald Anderson explained that there are a lot of issues that just can't be discussed outside of executive session.

"There are matters not known to the general public. Be that as it may, I'm willing to speak to any resident, pro or con, for this program as to my thoughts generally on school security officers," he said.

Dineen then said the board should continue to focus on questions and comments from the public, and continue to answer them.