Finance Board OKs Funds for School-Safety Pilot Program at West Vine

The Board of Finance approved $48,000 Tuesday night for a school-safety pilot program at West Vine Street School.

In response to the Sandy Hook shootings last December, the Stonington Police Department presented security recommendations to the Board of Education last month that included installing panic buttons, a security film on windows and strobe lights for high-noise areas, among other precautions. A pilot program to enact these measures was proposed for West Vine Street School in Pawcatuck.

After the April 8 public hearing on the budget, the Board of Finance asked Director of Finance Maryanna Stevens to search for unused funds to bankroll the pilot program. Stevens identified $48,313 in unspent monies from this year's capital improvements fund, allowing the board to keep the cost of the pilot program out of next year's budget.

Board members did raise concerns, however, about whether the program would end up to be a waste of money if the state, which has promised to issue guidelines to towns on school safety, mandated other measures.

"I'm all for safety in the schools," member June Strunk said. "(But) I would like to wait to see what we must comply with before we send money to something we don't know if we're going to need."

"I think that rather than just throw the $48,000 into what we've looked into so far, there's a lot of different ideas about these things," board member Sandy Grimes said. "I don't know why we haven't sat down with different people to seek different ideas. I think we need to get a plan that everyone's involved in."

But other members thought the money was well-spent, regardless of any future state mandates.

"I think a good idea that's a local good idea is still a good idea, regardless of what the state says," member Bryan Bentz said. 

Board member John O'Brien concurred.

"The fundamental way we're approaching this is right, where we're not trying to do every school at once," he said. "We're trying to do one school as a pilot program and see how it goes and fine-tune it. ... I see no reason to hold up on that."

Board of Finance Chairman Glenn Frishman called the question, and the board voted 4-1, with Strunk abstaining, to approve. Grimes was the lone "no" vote.

Nay from Grimes. Strunk abstained.