Armed Officers Coming To Middletown Schools; Will Be Hired Aug. 15

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — There will be a special voting meeting of the Middletown school board on Aug. 15.

This meeting will be the formal vote to hire the Class-3 school resource officers as part of the shared services agreement with Middletown Police, according to Board vice president Jacqueline Tobacco.

The BOE will very likely approve the hiring of these school resource officers, and they are scheduled to be sworn in at the Township Committee meeting later that same night.

That is why the BOE meeting will be early, at 5 p.m. Monday August 15 and will actually take place inside Town Hall, in the main meeting room at 1 Kings Highway.

Starting in September, armed Class 3 police officers will be in 16 schools in the district; they will be there all hours school is in session.

In June, the Middletown school district and police department agreed to enter a unique shared services agreement after the Uvalde, Texas shooting where 19 children and two teachers were killed.

Class 3 SROs are usually retired police officers; they are still licensed to carry a gun. Class 3 is a special class of officers and they must be retired from a police agency within the last three years and undergo special school security training. Most of the officers will be retired from the Middletown Police Department, however they can come from any department.

Class 3 SROs is cheaper than hiring off-duty police officers

These Class 3 officers will be paid $35 an hour, which is much less than the rate for off-duty police. Immediately after Uvalde, Middletown placed armed, off-duty police officers in all schools at a rate of $50 per hour, which is actually far under the normal overtime rate.

However, it would still be too expensive to have off-duty officers in schools full time.

Tobacco previously acknowledged hiring the SROs will be "a significant expense" for the Middletown school district in the 2022-23 school year. The hiring of these officers is also entirely funded by the Board of Education — not the town or Middletown Police Department.

"However, this is way more affordable than we ever thought it would be," she said.

She did say that the costs will be slightly lower as the district does not have to provide health insurance for the Class 3 officers.

Agenda for Aug. 15 meeting:

This will be the order of business for the public meeting: SPECIAL VOTING MEETING

1. Call to Order and Reading of the Sunshine Notice
2. Roll Call
3. Pledge of Allegiance
4. Opportunity for Public Comment (limited to 30 minutes)
5. Special Voting Meeting
6. Old Business
7. New Business
8. Motion to Adjourn

Formal Action Will Be Taken

Original Patch report: Middletown Will Place Armed Retired Police Officers In All Schools