The chief of Oxford’s ambulance service says Oxford needs a school resource officer to be in the schools on a full-time basis, especially in light of a spate of recent problems and arrests.
Oxford Ambulance executive director Jerry Schwab sent a letter to First Selectman George Temple Tuesday outlining his concerns and asking Temple to assign the former school resource officer, State Trooper David Ives, solely to Oxford schools. The letter is posted at the end of this story.
Ives used to be a full-time school resource officer but was reassigned about six months ago.
Ives now splits his time between normal street patrol and the school resource officer tasks.
“We’ve responded to a number of calls related to youth that are school-age for drug and alcohol-related incidents, a lot of times revolving around the school day, either in morning or when they just get out of school,” Schwab said Tuesday.
Schwab said he became involved of the issue after it was raised by the parent of a participant in the Explorer youth program at the ambulance association, in which about 25 high school students take part, who asked him to get involved with the issue and try to do something about it.
“I didn’t go snooping around looking for this information,” he said. “It was given to me by a concerned parent.”
“This community has grown,” Schwab said. “There’s a lot going on in the schools and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask that one of the youth officers be assigned to it.”
On Monday two students at Oxford High School were referred to juvenile authorities for possessing marijuana there after police were called by school officials to investigate, Oxford Resident State Trooper Dan Semosky said Tuesday.
And last month another student was cited by police after he was found in possession of marijuana in the school’s parking lot.
The softball field at Great Oak Middle School was vandalized earlier this month.
And Semosky said police are investigating more mischief — eggs thrown at the building, birdhouses destroyed — that occurred at the middle school over the weekend.
“The way it is now, it’s management by crisis,” Schwab said. “When something happens they go up there. There’s no deterrent in the schools from a police perspective.”
Others have come to Temple with similar concerns since he became first selectman last November. Temple wasn’t first selectman when the reassignment was made, but guessed it was done to save money.
Temple said he is looking to increase the time Ives spends in the town’s schools.
The town only has eight officers, Temple said, “so a little juggling goes on.”
One possible solution, Temple said, may be to have part-time officers on weekends.
As the town’s chief elected official, Temple said he could order Semosky to reassign Ives permanently but that isn’t his management style.
“It’s a question of the effective use of personnel and I wouldn’t pretend to know more than Sgt. Semosky on that subject,” Temple said. “I’ve talked to (Semosky) about having (Ives) be on more of a full-time basis and I think we’re going to work that out.”
Semosky said Tuesday that Ives maintains a presence in the schools and is assigned to work there when possible, adding that cases like those that have occurred recently would still occur with a full-time school resource officer.
“Even when he’s up there he gets called upon to make these arrests,” Semosky said.
