UPDATE: Enfield School Security Public Comment Sessions

Updated: 1 p.m. Feb. 9

The School Security Public Comment Session for tonight at Nathan Hale School 7 PM has been cancelled, according to Town Manager Matthew W. Coppler.

Original story: 1:46 p.m. Feb. 8:

The Enfield Town Council and the Enfield Public Schools will continue a series of public comment sessions on Monday that will give residents the opportunity to discuss whether to continue the School Security Program.

The scope of the school security program includes the school security officers, hardening of school facilities, and policies and the Board of Education’s school security procedures. The district has 21 armed school security officers assigned to 12 school facilities. The security program was begun in the 2012-13 school year.

Residents will be allowed to make their comments following a brief presentation of the security program. All comments will be documented and provided in a report to the Enfield Town Council and the Enfield Board of Education.

These public comment sessions are part of the agreed upon public review process of the Enfield School Security Program. In 2012, the Enfield Town Council and the Enfield Board of Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding that created the school security partnership between the two entities. Included as part of that Memorandum of Understanding was a two-year review process to determine if the program should continue or be modified. It is the intent of both elected bodies to make a determination on the future of the program in the next few months.

The program has a total cost of $944,633 for the 2014-15 school year, according to an evaluation report of the program conducted by the school security firm of Safe Havens International. That report, which includes a survey of school administrators who said they support continuation of the program, can be found here.

Monday’s hearing — the second in a series of four scheduled sessions — will be held at 7 p.m. at Nathan Hale School, 5 Taylor Rd.

The other hearings are scheduled for Feb. 19 at Prudence Crandall School, 150 Brainard Rd., and Feb. 23 at JFK Middle School, 155 Raffia Rd. All sessions begin at 7 p.m.

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