Chatham Could Seek Armed Officers For Schools Tuesday

CHATHAM, NJ - The School District of the Chathams Board of Education is one step closer to hiring armed officers to patrol the district schools as a shared services agreement was agreed upon by Chatham Township last week.

"At tomorrow's (Monday's) meeting, if the shared services agreement is approved, will allow us to begin the search for a SLEO III," Chatham Township Police Chief Thomas Miller told Patch Sunday.

Special Law Enforcement Officers (SLEOs) Class III are generally armed and are retired officers. The SLEO III Officers would be funded through the Board of Education budget but would be members of the police departments.

"I believe that adding a police presence to our six schools, with a combined enrollment of more than 4,100 students, will provide an additional layer of safety and security for our students and staff," Superintendent Michael LaSusa told Patch back in October.

At that time, LaSusa said Chatham had fallen behind nearby districts like Denville, New Providence, West Morris Central and Hanover Park who have already moved forward with the hiring of Class III officers.

According to LaSusa the cost of paying for these two part-time employees, estimated at around $100,000, would come from the $350,000 boost in state aid the district received in this year's budget.

The next step once the school board accepts the agreement would be hiring the officer, something Miller said he was ready to do.

"My hopes are to begin the process Tuesday if the shared services agreement is approved," Miller said.

Miller said the Townships SLEO III will be uniformed and armed and that he or she will be a member of the Chatham Township Police Department and their salary will be paid by the school district.

Also in the mix is a similar setup being worked out with Chatham Borough, which would provide a second officer under similar conditions. From there, a duty structure would need to be ironed out.

One proposed duty structure would have the Chatham Township SLEO stationed at the high school while the Chatham Borough officer would patrol Washington Avenue and Milton Avenue schools but would be stationed at the middle school.

Back in October, LaSusa said the goal was to have something in place for January. If the vote happens and passes Monday night it would be a big step to keeping that timeline.

The Board of Education meeting will take place Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the media center of Chatham High School, 255 Lafayette Ave.

(Photo courtesy of YouTube)

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