School District's New Security Plan Includes Armed Officers: Supt.

MADISON, CT — Madison schools' new security plan includes the addition of four armed security, all to be retired Madison or Connecticut State Police officers, who will wear plain clothes, save a Madison Public Schools shirt, and a gun belt. The district has also added more cameras at schools, improved "door hardware," and is reviewing school entrances.

Schools superintendent Dr. Craig Cooke forwarded the new security plan to Patch after a request for information last week. Cooke sent the following to all district families Wednesday:

"Over the past few months, the District has investigated ways to continually improve the safety and security of our schools. During the summer, we made improvements that include adding additional cameras, improving door hardware, conducting security reviews, adding air conditioning to classrooms, and reviewing school entrances. In addition, this summer we explored increasing the Madison Police presence and the potential for additional armed security on our campuses. We are now at the point where we can share the results of these efforts with you in advance of the next Board of Education meeting and the start of the new school year. For the 2022-2023 school year, we are intending to introduce a position called Armed School Security Specialist.

With this addition, we will now have three distinct security roles at MPS:

School Resource Officers (SRO): member of the Madison Police force that has been assigned to work in the Madison Public Schools. This individual receives yearly training as an SRO and always has been armed. Our SROs wear the standard Madison Police Department uniform. This is an existing position in the district and has not changed.

School Security Specialist: a Madison Public Schools employee who is hired to provide security but does not carry a weapon. These employees wear a Madison Public Schools Security shirt. This is an existing position in the district and has not changed.

New Armed School Security Specialist: a retired local or state police officer who by law must be hired by the school district but is also supervised by the Chief of Police. This individual receives yearly training as an SRO and is armed. These employees wear a Madison Public Schools shirt, cargo pants, and a gun belt. This is a new position.

The District is adding four Armed School Security Specialists who will work alongside our existing SROs and general security staff to increase coverage for all of our buildings. We are very fortunate to have been able to fill these positions with qualified individuals who are already well known to our students and staff. Every person filling these positions either currently works in our schools or previously worked in our schools. With these three roles in place, the proposed staffing structure across the District will be as follows:

Brown, Ryerson, and TCLC

• One School Resource Officer (SRO): Officer Twohill and Officer Bull will each work half-time to fill one position (Current)
• One School Security Specialist: Carl McDowell (Current)
• One Armed School Security Specialist: Officer Twohill and Officer Bull will each work half-time to fill one position (New)

This new structure means Officer Twohill and Officer Bull will both work full time at Brown and Ryerson. These three positions will be scheduled between the two schools while also providing intermittent coverage to TCLC. TCLC will also receive coverage from Madison Police through check-ins at the school.

Jeffrey and Polson

• One School Resource Officer (SRO): Officer O’Neill assigned to Jeffrey/Polson/Hand (Current)
• Two School Security Specialists: Michael Kapij (Jeffrey) and Kevin Potter (Polson) (Current)
• One Armed School Security Specialist: Bryan Baxter (New) Bryan Baxter is returning to Madison having recently retired from the Madison Police Department. Bryan last worked in Madison Public Schools in 2020.

Daniel Hand

• One School Resource Officer (SRO): Officer O’Neill assigned to Jeffrey/Polson/Hand (Current)
• One School Security Specialist: Robert Faulkner (Current)
• Two Armed School Security Specialists: John Pardo and Jamie Del Mauro (Current -assuming new position)

Both John and Jamie are former police officers and existing MPS employees. John is a former Youth Officer for Madison, and Jamie formerly supervised SROs.

The addition of this new security role will build upon the good work already being done by our SROs and current school security specialists. The SRO program in Madison Public Schools has been in place for a number of years. The Madison Police Department has been an incredible partner working very closely with us on these changes.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. We will be sending more back to school information in the coming weeks and we look forward to welcoming all of our students and staff back to the buildings on Monday, Aug. 29.

~Dr. Craig Cooke