Candidates favor facility security and mental-health supports, question adding SROs to every elementary school

Candidates discussed school safety measures and whether the district should assign one full-time school resource officer (SRO) to cover all five elementary schools.

Meredith Moriarty said she values the district's relationship with SROs and that SROs "work within all of our schools," but called hiring an SRO for every elementary "cost prohibitive." She noted the district has invested in hardening entrances, door-locking systems and monitoring.

Becky Van Wiedel and Sarah Bailey agreed that sharing an SRO across multiple buildings reduces effectiveness and that individual building SROs would be costly; Van Wiedel cited positive response and communication during a previous "swatting" incident as evidence of effective emergency response. Holly Delenbaugh emphasized that safety encompasses technology and programs such as Avigilon door monitoring, raptor screening, software tools (named as Gaggle) for content monitoring, opioid-overdose prevention policy and strengthened mental-health supports.

Candidates repeatedly framed the board's role as setting policy and providing resources rather than managing day-to-day security operations; they said conversations about SRO staffing also involve town government because SROs are town-employed police officers. No formal board action or vote was recorded at the forum.