Keeping 'Public in the Dark' Seems to be School District Policy, Reader Says

I would like to express some thoughts that came to mind after reading the recent comments expressed by both Mr. Blitt and Mr. Friedman in Patch.

When broken down to their core components, the implementation of a school resource officer is basically a proposed partnership between the Westfield educational system and law enforcement. I refer to law enforcement in general because any information and intelligence obtained by the Westfield police school resource officer can and will be shared within the Westfield police department and with other law enforcement agencies both state and federal.

Consequently, such a proposed partnership must be viewed as a process, not as an event. A partnership does not materialize just because of a decree issued by the Board, school superintendent and the police chief. A partnership of this importance can only be built on a foundation of common goals and ongoing communication. The Westfield school administration and the Westfield police not only must work together, they need to work in concert with Westfield residents, parents, and students. These are their core constituencies; they should embrace their input, not ignore and avoid it. This cooperation and openess can have a number of positive outcomes in development of innovative strategies to ensure the safety of all students, as well as addressing law enforcement issues.

Mr. Friedman’s comment of  “If you do not care for the job that any of us on the Board are doing, you are welcome to register your discontent in November,” comes across as arrogant, and reminiscent of the French phrase “Qu’ils mangent de la broche." I am not sure of any other explanation for his comment. Mr. Friedman’s dismissive comments are insulting, petty, patronizing and would leave in place a decision that can have serious consequences. It certainly appears that the issue of the school resource officer is generating considerable interest in Westfield. Residents and parents are indeed investing the time to be informed on this issue. Mr. Friedman does not need to “force feed them the information,” as he so eloquently puts it. The residents and parents are demanding more information on this issue. More to the point they deserve more information. However, Mr. Friedman’s comments are not really surprising. Judging from public comments by Westfield residents and personal observation, the official public information and community relations policy of Westfield school administrators is to keep the public in the dark as much as possible.

While the Board does provide information regarding the school resource officer proposal, it is not easy to find it on the school district’s website. Rather it is placed in the Synopsis of previous Board meetings and is not specifically indicative that information regarding the SRO is contained in there. Consequently, unless you know what you are looking for or what is contained in the Synopsis reports that Dr. Dolan and her staff write you would not know where to look. However, the district’s homepage does make it easy to find information regarding the December 2012 bond referendum, where the Board was seeking public approval. Both issues are equally important to the future of the Westfield school system but the school district is clearly picking and choosing what they believe the public should know.

All definitions are from nationally recognized sources. The U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Justice, the National Association of School Resource Officers all have their own definition as does the Center for the Prevention of School Violence.  And least we forget the NRA has its own definition. The question is which definition should the Westfield Board of Education rely on when formulating their as yet fully articulated policies? Due to their secretive nature, the public does not know if they were even aware that there are multiple definitions from nationally recognized experts.

Dr. Dolan did offer a definition based on a report from the local New Jersey SAFE Task Force but that information is not easily retrievable on the school district’s website. Also Dr. Dolan gives no indication that she was aware of other definitions, and if she was aware she does not explain why she apparently did not reference the multiple definitions as factoring into her research.

This brings me to Mr. Blitt’s school resource officer survey. This Mr. Blitt’s survey does not contain the controls required to obtain a true and accurate sampling of the residents of Westfield. It has the potential to over sample in some areas of town and under sample in others. Then again his survey could simply be designed to be good politics, as in the quote expressed by Rahm Emanuel “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”

More importantly, the residents of Westfield simply have not been provided with enough relevant information to allow them to formulate an opinion required to answer questions 3, 4 and 5. Question number 7 appears to be designed as a way to obtain e-mail addresses that could be used as a valuable campaign marketing resource.

The residents of Westfield are intelligent and want to be fully engaged in the affairs of their community. It is time that the Board and school superintendent treat them in a professional and responsible manner and as full partners in shaping the future of the Westfield school system.

Michael Celock