Members of the Maple Run Unified School District’s board of directors left their monthly meeting Wednesday with more questions than answers about the district’s school resource officer program — which came under scrutiny last year after a report that an officer mocked and handcuffed a student with a disability. There is still no decision on what the future of the program will look like.
The board spent most of the evening discussing 10 recommendations for the program released last month by a parent-led committee, which proposed “clarifying and narrowing” the roles of three St. Albans Police Department officers in Maple Run schools.
Officers should focus specifically on campus safety matters and legal enforcement of criminal issues mandated by state law, the committee said, recommending the board further examine whether home visits, student wellness visits and truancy cases should continue to involve a police officer or be shifted to another professional.
Furthermore, the committee recommended the district make extra effort to ensure the program is “fostering positive outcomes” for those who identify with a marginalized community, including BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students and those with disabilities.
At the meeting Wednesday, the board also heard an update from the district’s new superintendent, Bill Kimball, who said the district is preparing for in-person instruction five days a week this fall.
Maple Run includes St. Albans City and Town, plus Fairfield.
“The study committee did their job because they kept their focus,” Nilda Gonnella-French, the board chair, said at the meeting. “I think our role is a little bigger — looking at more of the bigger picture — which is why we have some of the questions that we had.”
Before making a final decision, board members said, they want to get more information from building administrators about the responsibilities officers have at each school. Administrators are expected to be at the board’s meeting on Aug. 4.
Members said they want to better understand how officers currently mentor students in the district as well as what role officers play in bullying and harassment education.
They also plan to consult with the board’s attorney to better understand the “legally mandated duties” school resource officers have in the district, they said.
Board Clerk Alisha Sawyer said members should take more time to discuss whether the school resource officers need to wear uniforms and carry weapons, as well as the possibility of replacing the current program with a police liaison program.
Two committee members asked the board to consider shifting to a liaison program, in which officers might not necessarily be stationed at the schools.
One of those members, school district parent Kathi Fuller, wrote in a letter dissenting with board’s recommendations that a liaison program would allow the district to keep positive aspects of the school resource officer program but limit or prevent “harm to underrepresented students and those who do not wish to interact with police officers in a school setting.”
Burlington schools started a similar program in April.
Sawyer also said she was worried an optional mentorship program between students and officers — something supported by the committee — could seem like “a false choice,” especially to students who have had negative experiences with the program.
“If I was in a position where I felt like somebody had power over me, I would not feel comfortable saying ‘no,’” she said. “Even if it was offered to me as an option.”
Members appeared to agree on Wednesday night with the committee’s recommendations that more training for officers, better communication about the program and a regular reporting process on key program data would benefit the district.
School board member Peter DesLauriers urged his colleagues to spend more time discussing ways they can improve the program, not just the way it operates now. The committee’s report shows that changes need to be made, he said — adding “everyone deserves an answer” on the program’s future.
“We can’t stay here in the middle forever,” DesLauriers said. “We were elected to make decisions.”
New superintendent
Kimball, who started as superintendent July 1, introduced several members of his staff at the meeting and said that even amid the loosening of pandemic restrictions, he thinks “next year is going to be just as difficult as this year” in the district.
He also said the schools have more than 30 vacant positions. Maple Run had about 430 total staff for the 2020-2021 school year, according to federal data.
Kimball came to the district in fall 2019 as assistant superintendent, though soon took over as interim principal at Bellows Free Academy in St. Albans City following the resignation of former Principal Chris Mosca.
Before that, Kimball was superintendent of the Washington Central Supervisory Union, which is based in Montpelier.
“My job this year is to listen and learn,” he said at the meeting. “I was hoping to do that my first year here — but didn’t get a chance to.”
