Petition requesting no armed guards in elementary schools

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield Board of Education proposal to earmark $550,000 in its 2018-2019 budget to hire and train armed guards for service in township elementary schools, including the Early Childhood Learning Center, has raised concerns among some parents.
A petition in opposition to the proposal has been placed online by a group called Bloomfield Parents for Sensible Safety. Adding to the concern is an employment advertisement, which ran in the Sunday, May 27, Star-Ledger, for the special law-enforcement officers. The next school board meeting is Tuesday, June 5.

A founder for the petition drive, Maria Sanders, learned on Facebook of the allocation following the April 24 budget hearing. The budget was adopted May 14. Sanders has two children of elementary school age.
The board proposes to hire nine armed Class III guards.

This class of guard, in addition to other requirements, has to be a retired police officer under the age of 65.
Earlier this week, Sanders said there were about 200 respondents to her petition.
In a telephone interview, she said parents and the general public were not made aware of the proposal. She also said the risk of an active shooter scenario in an elementary school is low.

“Having armed guards does not match the risk,” she said.
She said NJ is one of the safest states regarding gun laws and the Bloomfield Police Department has a rapid response. She said she understood Schools Superintendent Sal Goncalves wanted someone to provide a faster response time to any threats.
For that, she said, a guard needs a radio, not a gun.

“Most elementary schools don’t have armed guards,” she said. “If they do, there is an issue. We shouldn’t be moving from a place of fear, but a place of confidence.”

Sanders thought security could be tightened up with more surveillance, one entry and exit, more in-house psychologists.
Noel Gatts, another founder of the group, agreed with Sanders that there was no public mention of the proposal. According to Gatts, the public only became aware of it on the night of the final budget vote, April 24.

“We were blindsided,” she said. “We want this postponed and to have open discussions. It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission seems to be behind this rush.”
Gatts was also concerned that with a gun in the building, there is always the possibility of an accident. She has three children of elementary-school age.

Melissa DeFino is another parent behind the petition drive. She will have a child attending a Bloomfield elementary school in September.
“I was so upset and asked the person who put out the petition if I could help,” she said. “I heard some board members didn’t know until 15 minutes before the vote.”

DeFino thought the allocated money would be better spent on increasing anti-bullying programs, lighting, camera surveillance and “panic buttons.”
School District Attorney Nick Dotoli, in a telephone interview earlier this week, said the information about armed guards was made public on several occasions. He cited a March 12 forum with Tom Gambino, of the NJ DOE, when school security was discussed; and April 24, when the budget was introduced. Dotoli said it was a bit unfair to say the proposal was never discussed in public.

“This is a very passionate community,” he said. “I am more surprised there wasn’t more vocal criticism at the forum.”
He said the proposal is not being rushed.

“This is being rolled out like any other budget proposal,” he said. “Maybe the dissemination should have been spread out.”
The upcoming board meeting will be an opportunity to move forward moderately, he said.

BOE President Jill Fischman, in a telephone interview earlier this week, also said the idea of armed guards was discussed at the March 12 forum.
“Some people are very happy with the situation,” she said of the proposal.

Those people, she said, included parents, staff, plus members of other communities and districts. Fischman said that people from other towns wished their school would have armed guards.

She also said that armed guards are in the middle and high schools and they are respected members of the community. She acknowledged that they are Bloomfield police officers, but the district could not afford them in all the schools.

“I wish more people who wanted to voice an opinion would come out to a board meeting and not social media,” she said. “We have a small number of people showing displeasure and 6,300 students.”