Is Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta now singing a different tune on the issue of reviewing the school resource officer program?
In an interview Wednesday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Margiotta was effusive in this praise of the school resource officer program as being necessary now that society has changed. He said he's hoping Superintendent Tony Tata's review will not result in any change of the program.
"I have some serious concerns with the fact that we're even considering making any changes," Margiotta said. "That's my personal feeling."
LuMaye asked then why Tata was doing the review. Margiotta said it was because of "some outside groups that would like to see no resource officers in the schools. Or, if they'd like to see them in the schools, they would like to see them perform, in a bit of an exaggeration, but as nurses or nursemaids."
Margiotta is referencing the February report from Advocates for Children's Services on the SRO program in Wake.
Margiotta said Wake County is "fortunate" that the municipal governments here "train their police department very well and have specialized training for the resource officers we use in the schools." SRO training is expected to be one of the things reviewed by Tata.
Margiotta praised how well SROs work with students, principals and teachers. He also praised towns, such as Holly Springs, for paying for school resource officers who aren't funded by the school system.
LuMaye, a fan of the SRO program, asked Margiotta how he thought the review would end up.
"Hopefully we will retain the resource officers in the positions that they're in, it's from my viewpoint now, in the positions that they're in, in the same manner that they're working," Margiotta said. "If any additional training might be required, fine.
However, as I pointed out earlier, I think my understanding of the training that these resource officers receive, the performance of the officers in the schools have never created any problems. There's a few groups out there that have been, as I said earlier, would like to see them removed all together."
Margiotta added that "I join those groups by saying I would like to see that we would not have a need for these resource officers in our schools. However it's quite evident the way our society has changed it is necessary and we do have them there and they've been performing extremely well."
Now let's look at what Margiotta said during the June 7 meeting in which the board agreed to conduct the review of the SRO program. The review came about after some board members questioned approving the 2011-12 contracts with Cary and Raleigh to provide school resource officers for the high schools.
"It is my opinion that our resource officers — the entire program — needs a good strong evaluation and I think that's something that should be undertaken," Margiotta said at the board meeting. "Whether or not we follow through on this, I think it might be a little late to not take action on these contracts, but I think our whole program requires a good evaluation by our staff."
Later in the meeting, Margiotta said that they could approve the contracts with Raleigh and Cary and still modify the memorandum of understanding that governs how SROs operate in school.
After Russ Smith, Wake's senior director of school security, explained that the municipalities provide about 80 percent of the cost for SROs with the school district coming up with the remaining 20 percent, Margiotta said it's why the entire program could use a good review.
(After today, I'm going on vacation for two weeks. I've got some blog posts to cover things until I return July 25.)
UPDATE
Margiotta said in an interview today that he still believes in the value of doing the review. But he said he wants to focus on the disparity in SRO staffing provided by the different law enforcement agencies. He said he'd also like to talk about having all the SROs from the various agencies report to one person, perhaps Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison.
Margiotta said he has no interest in removing SROs or disarming them.
Comments
Huh?
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 07:50 — Dove314Interview 1:
"However, as I pointed out earlier, I think my understanding of the training that these resource officers receive, the performance of the officers in the schools have never created any problems. "
Interview 2:
"..he said he wants to focus on the disparity in SRO staffing provided by the different law enforcement agencies."
So he now thinks the review should move forward and focus on something he doesn't think has ever been a problem? Is he saying that he thinks some schools need more SRO's, not less, because there are no problems?
...
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 08:07 — SideburnsI believe the disparity he was referring to was the inequities in how the personnel from the different municipalities are being provided. I don't think there is just one SRO "staffing agency" so to speak -- but a variety of law enforcements are involved based on where the school is located. I read his concern as a staffing/coordination issue -- not a quality of officer issue -- which is what his 2 comments say.
But
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 09:17 — Dove314What are the issues if, as RM is quoted, there have not been any problems? Why does coordination need to be reviewed if there are no problems? Specifically -- what coordination breakdowns have their been? What staffing issues have there been? What does that even mean? That there are too many, not enough? Is there a school that didn't get support due to miscommunications between the law enforcement agencies? Does one law enforcement agency do a great job while another just does an adequate job? RM must see some problem with these areas that warrants study or why spend the man hours and budget on this now?
Coordination
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 20:56 — Solon77Maybe things are starting to hit a little closer to home. The bank robber shooting back in February resulted in 3 schools in RM's district to be locked down - has that ever happened in suburbia ? Safety of the school is a community issue, what better time to see if the community will support the neighborhood schools and provide the necessary resources to ensure safety.
"The bank robber
Sun, 07/10/2011 - 21:19 — woodstock"The bank robber shooting.."
Are you talking about the unarmed mentally disturbed youth who whas shot 13 times and killed? That WAS in suburbia. What role did the SRO's play?
but
Sun, 07/10/2011 - 21:10 — EBDarcyWasn't the shooter a resident of the that area? Not sure how that ties in to the neighborhood schools idea, please explain. It seems to me that far too many people interpret neighborhood schools as meaning that "those kids" will be moved out of "our schools."
Maybe?
Sun, 07/10/2011 - 10:18 — Dove314Maybe he is worried there aren't enough animal wildlife officers on call to protect all the WCPSS schools from black bears.
As usual, Margiotta's 1st concern is student welfare.
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 07:39 — woodstockAs usual, Margiotta 1st concern is student welfare. Although I personally question the need for armed patrols at our area schools, I respect Margiotta's experienced and caring leadership in doing what he feels is proper to ensure student safety.
If it ain't broke....
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 15:13 — Bob_SconceDon't fix it.
Appears Bob has seen the light - FINALLY...
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 17:30 — paulastam"Bob",
You just described North Carolina's high performing public school district: WCPSS! Now we need you to buy contact lenses or glasses for the Board's GOP gang of 5 led by Ronnie M...once they can actually see what's really going on they may come around too...
Paula, "Independent, Fair & Speaking Up for MY Kids."
"Independent, Fair &
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 19:26 — woodstock"Independent, Fair & Speaking Up for MY Kids."
I bet your kids are so proud. And if you care so much, why aren't you even registered to vote in Wake County, "Paula Stam?"
Pfft...
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 18:13 — Bob_SconceThat is so wrong on so many levels.... Let's start off with this one: Only 47.2% of all WCPSS elementary students classified as "economically disadvantage" pass both their reading and math EOGs. How about this: foreign language instruction isn't available to many WCPSS middle-school kids. How about this: many district 'base' principals still are worried about doing things that 'compete' with the magnet schools. How about this: WES is running at about 3/4 capacity while a majority of the parents and a majority of the teachers (each, according to the 2010 survey) want the school to be on the traditional track, yet the board member from that district has consistently blocked its conversion back to traditional calendar.
If you're referring to the situation in 2009, then you have about a dozen more things: kids spending hours on the school bus every day, just to get to schools where they perform worse than they would if they stayed at home. Or, kids being bused to an elementary school in one part of the county, a middle school in a different part, and a high school in a third part. Or, how about deciding to construct a high school on a 2-lane rural road a couple of miles away from another high school, and deciding to route student through a nearby neighborhood, all while the neighborhood opposed the location. Or, how about, letting school out early on Wednesdays so teachers could have PLTs, only to have many of them leave early those days also. How about assignment patterns where high school students pass each other going in opposite directions on the way to their respective schools?
hummm
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 19:32 — EBDarcyOh come on Bob. The board ignored the survey results at most schools. Why should yours be any different? Was teachers leaving early on Wednesday really a problem? I never saw that in the media nor saw it discussed at any BOE meetings. I guess it made a nice sound bite during the campaign.
Leaving early..
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 19:47 — Bob_SconceSaw it at my own kids' school at 2:00 pm on a Wednesday.
?
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 19:52 — EBDarcyHow many Wednesdays? How many teachers? Do you know why they were leaving early? Is this the basis on which you are making a statement about teachers throughout the district?
?
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 20:11 — Bob_Sconce2 Wednesdays and the parking lot was only about 1/3rd full -- these were the "get out at noon" not the "get out one hour early" Wednesdays. I did not make a statement about teachers throughout the district. But, if it makes you feel better, ignore this one item out of my litany and go for the others.
Did you ever check?
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 07:29 — Dove314Did you ever check to see if they were taking advantage of a rare opportunity to grab lunch from outside and bring it back for the afternoon's meeting with other teachers? i.e. did you ever check to see if they came back after lunch? Or did you just assume when they left at noon that they were leaving for the remainder of the day?
So...
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 09:00 — Bob_SconceThis was my experience: drive to the school to drop something off on one of the extended Wacky Wednesdays. Get there at about 2:00pm and noticed that there were far fewer cars in the teacher's parking lot than I expected. A month or two later, about the same time of day, I noticed the same thing.
Now, I suppose it's possible that, on both days, I arrived just after most of the teachers left to go do a late lunch run and that they all returned just after I left. But, it seems to be a stretch.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not trying to criticize the teachers here. At my kids' school, they do a good job and, in my view, if they want to use that time to go to lunch, mow their lawns or feed their dogs, great. But, that's not how the time was sold to us.
Late Lunches...I doubt it!
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 23:24 — youthinksoPLT's were held around Wake County on campuses hosting subject matter PLT's as well as grade level PLT's. Teachers were required to travel to the host sites.
Your perception may have been skewed by your expectation.
Actually...
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 19:51 — paulastamI was not a Whacky Weds fan myself...still the motley GOP crew we have running our great school system, under General Tata and Ronnie M is no better - they're worse in fact...and all we wanted was neighborhood schools and what a debacle we ended up with instead!!
Paula, "Independent, Fair & Speaking Up for MY Kids."
Something for "Bob" to ponder about...
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 19:01 — paulastam...in relation to our current radical GOP "Gang of 5" (or 4 1/2 depending on how you judge Goldman) led by Ronnie M:
"They were careless people - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made." Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
Paula, "Independent, Fair & Speaking Up for MY Kids."
GOP's "mess" that someone else must clean...
Sun, 07/10/2011 - 09:26 — paulastamSadly it is the GOP run board's mess that amongst other things has seen increasing the poverty rates and segregation of our local WCPSS schools.....
Paula, "Independent, Fair & Speaking Up for MY Kids."
?
Sun, 07/10/2011 - 20:11 — Bob_SconceWhich schools? Todays assignments are mostly the result of the previous board's 3-year plan.
Almost all of the changes
Sun, 07/10/2011 - 22:35 — virginiadareAlmost all of the changes the new board made to the old board's three year plan were to move thousands of ED kids back to their neighborhood schools, except for the move of JT's neighborhood of NED kids to a school with fewer ED students. Someone posted a list of the schools with greatly increased F&R populations on another thread. Almost all of those increases were the result of changes the new board made.
So kids were assigned to
Mon, 07/11/2011 - 07:23 — woodstockSo kids were assigned to neighborhood schools in a neighborhood schools model? Shocking! However, your contention that only ED students were moved is a lie. Also, ED/F&R status is not a consideration in assignments so no one was moved for that reason... however that was routinely done with status quo policies.
"Someone posted a list of the schools with greatly increased F&R populations on another thread."
Yes, they did, and they were less than honest -- they lied -- using completely ficticious numbers. That data does not exist.
?
Mon, 07/11/2011 - 09:50 — EBDarcyHave we adopted a neighborhood schools model? I thought your team was all gung-ho about a choice model?
Neighborhood model with
Mon, 07/11/2011 - 10:05 — woodstockNeighborhood model with choice, that is what I am "gung-ho" about. If you are talking about the convoluted mess called the Blue Plan with something called "achievement schools," I am not on that "team."
Hate to say it, but Woodie you may be right on this issue...
Sat, 07/16/2011 - 11:53 — paulastamThose of us that wanted neighborhood schools, but NOT wholesale GOP/Tea Party change, should be concerned about "achievement schools" as proposed by General Tata - seems we're going back to massive reassignments and long bus rides for our kids! Indeed Woodie, the Blue Choce Plan is very "convoluted" and may indeed prove very costly for tax payers given its related expenses are UNKNOWN at this time...parents are simpy told by Tata the status quo is expensive so the Blue Plan can't be worse!
Paula, "Independent, Fair & Speaking Up for MY Kids."
Precisely...
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 10:40 — Bob_SconceI'm very happy that Ron and the others are working to clean up the mess created by their predecessors.
Ronnie M's friend?
Sat, 07/16/2011 - 11:56 — paulastamDear "Bob",
It's interesting that you refer to our school board's GOP chairman as "Ron" Are the two of you are close Sir? Friends?
Paula, "Independent, Fair & Speaking Up for MY Kids."
Pfft...
Sat, 07/16/2011 - 12:13 — Bob_SconceSo, first of all, he's the board chairman, not the GOP chairman (which implies that there's also a DEM chairman). But, in answer to your question, although I met him once, I don't think he'd know me from Adam, even though my ravishing good looks usually make me difficult to forget. I call him Ron because that's the name he chooses to go by, it's shorter than "Margiotta," easier to spell, and everybody knows who I'm talking about. I don't use the diminutive form with him because doing so is insulting.
Bob's self-declared "Ravishing Good Looks"?
Sat, 07/16/2011 - 12:35 — paulastam"Bob",
Since you are quick to demand evidence from others in your postings and discuss "poo" on the 'odd' occasion, you might want to step up and post your pic so we can decide as a forum if indeed you are a "cutie pie". :)
Paula, "Independent, Fair & Speaking Up for MY Kids."
?
Sun, 07/17/2011 - 00:25 — Bob_SconceI don't discuss poo. I referred to your throwing it, which isn't the same thing.
Here's my picture: http://tinyurl.com/6jkos4p You can decide for yourself.
Hmm... quoting the Great
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 19:36 — woodstockHmm... quoting the Great Gatsby. Are you a junior or a senior this year?
So, don't bother with a
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 15:37 — woodstockSo, don't bother with a review or an evaluation to determine of things could be done better, just let it be?
Well...
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 16:31 — Bob_SconceOut of all the programs that the board *could* be doing a review or evaluation of, this one is pretty far down on my list. But, my point was that if the board's going to change it, there ought to be good solid facts justifying the change, not just emotion, especially since we're talking about student safety.
One has to wonder
Fri, 07/08/2011 - 22:25 — Solon77Just like the decision with the NCSBA and the legal review ( I know you disagree on the legal), these were pretty low on the list compared to achievment. Just another example of lack of leadership to focus on the important issues. As the election grows nearer I wonder what other positions Ron is going to flip flop on, realizing his shoot now ask questions later reckless manner is going to come back and bite him. I am sure he figured he could jam everything through in two years and retire. But he blew the assignment plan, the timetable got pushed out and now Ron finds himself running again. Should make for some good entertainment.
Ron's campaign
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 06:49 — valsparRon wants the SA issues to come up in the campaign - its what pushes the hot button in Western Wake and gets people to the polls. Tata needs it wrapped up before the election, but watch Ron - he'll drag it out at the board table so he can campaign on it. Ron's big beef now is the number of schools in his district that have an A beside them, and how many seats go to not so necessarily neighborhood students. (Ron's complaining about not wanting struggling students in "his" schools? And he leads the county system?) However, this will backfire on Ron - he had the reins for two years and could not, if he stalls the SA implementation, get a decent SA plan (as determined by his constituents) implemented. His leadership is in question, and rightly so. It's time Western Wake had some effective leadership for its citizens, not a point man and pawn for the state republican leadership.
Well, Broughton and Enloe
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 11:35 — DrActualFactualWell, Broughton and Enloe did wind up pretty highly-ranked on the recent HS list, perhaps he should recommend those schools have some % set-aside seats within the framework stipulated in the funding they get from WCPSS. Both HS seem to have highly trained personnel that could help serve the overall achievement goals.
Agree. Margiotta has been a complete failure.
Sat, 07/09/2011 - 07:17 — IDoverHis leadership has always been in question. Now that campaign season is here, Margiotta's selective memory is kicking in. Come October, we can all say "Arrivederci Ron".