School board said it weighed options; some parents upset about process
NORTHFIELD — The Board of Education contracted last month with a private security firm to provide an armed guard on campus at Northfield Community School.
Superintendent Pete Bretones said the service began at the school last week, noting there will be one officer on site at all times when students are present for the school day.
He said the concept was being discussed as far back as early spring and more formally this school year.
“We had seen that school security is really an issue and were looking at our options, ways to improve on it,” Bretones said.
He said hiring the security firm is just one piece of a comprehensive plan to keep students and staff safe.
“As we looked at ways to increase safety and security, armed guards were one part of that plan that we were considering,” Bretones said.
The school board created a request for proposals and got very little response, he said, noting that only one or two of the five firms they solicited got back to them.
Before doing so, he said, they considered hiring a Class III officer through the Northfield Police Department, hiring their own armed security staff, employing a K-9 model favored by Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson or hiring the firm.
“We weighed all the advantages and disadvantages of the four models and decided to go with the security firm,” Bretones said.
He said hiring KD National Security Force provides the greatest flexibility because the firm employs two people dedicated to Northfield who take turns every day.
“One of the things we really liked about KD is having two officers, one at a time,” Bretones said. “By having two people on a regular schedule, that greatly guarantees the ability that we will have an officer on campus at all times. Regardless of sickness or personal obligations, we will have an officer on campus that is familiar and that our campus is familiar with them.”
Bretones said the security officers are not police and have no policing powers, but are present to provide protection. Any incident would immediately be referred to the Northfield Police Department, he said, just as if there were a Class III officer.
Bretones said all of the employees of KD National are retired supervisor-level police officers or military members trained in the use of firearms.
“They know what and how to do what they need to do in the school,” he said.
Bretones said the contract extends through the end of the school year and that the district is exploring options for summer school sessions. He said the firm would be paid $45 per hour for about eight hours a day, noting the district is still defining just when and how long guards will be present.
“As we get more experience with having them in the building, we may find more is needed,” he said.
Some members of the public have pushed back against the plan, saying the process was rushed and parents had little time to research and address the issue.
A notice was sent to parents Friday, Oct. 21, before the meeting Oct. 24 stating there would be a motion on the Board of Education meeting agenda to approve hiring KD National.
“The security services will include an armed school security specialist to be present at the school,” it said.
Melanie Brozosky characterized it as “the rushed and inappropriate hiring of a private contractor without the proper bidding process.”
“KD National Security presented at the board meeting with zero evidence or research to their self-assertion of being the ‘premier’ security firm,” Brozosky told The Sentinel.
During the meeting, she said state law requires input from all stakeholders in implementing a school security plan and that the process seems to have violated that requirement.
Brozosky cited research that found the presence of school resource officers “does the opposite of keeping schools safe” by reducing graduation rates and creating poor educational outcomes for black and brown students, as well LGBTQ and disabled students, while not reducing incidents of violence.”
“None of what I or the other women said about pausing to reconsider this contract (which by the way pays rent-a-cops more than any counselor and most teachers) was considered,” Brozosky said.
She planned to contact the New Jersey School Boards Association to file a complaint about the lack of a competitive process.
Responding to the research Brozosky presented, Bretones said it is not clear whether the schools used in the research are comparable in size, environment or demographics as Northfield and therefore could not be seen as a direct comparison.
“As far as decreased academic performances, we are constantly monitoring the intended goal and collateral effects of programs,” he said. “If we find there is academic decline, we look at factors that contribute to that. If we see a precipitous decline, we would address it accordingly.”
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
