By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
NEWPORT, N.H. — Newport School Board member Ashley Glasscock recently led a discussion with the board about school safety in the wake of the district having a “secure campus” scenario twice since the school year started.
While no action was taken, and Glasscock was given the opportunity to make a motion on whether the school should look into adding another school resource officer or security guard, the school board and Superintendent Donna Magoon were able to voice their concerns.
Glasscock said that with the communications that they had received in regard to the “secure campus” measures, she had strong feelings about the safety of students in the district.
“School safety is my biggest concern, and one of the many reasons why my kids are not in a public school,” she said. “I do feel like you and your administration and the teachers do everything they can to keep our kids safe, but obviously there’s flaws in every system. I do feel strongly that we do need an extra SRO within the district.”
Glasscock recommended that the district look into another SRO at Richards School to ensure the safety of all students, and not just one at the high school. She suggested that they look into this during budget time.
Magoon said that this is part of the police department’s budget, and the district pays a portion. She noted that the SRO may be there part of the day, but they are a full-time officer who could leave for a call. They also work as a police officer during the summer and on school vacations. Glasscock said that outside an SRO, maybe they could look into options like having a security guard.
Magoon continued the brainstorm session, suggesting the potential for a part-time officer or someone who was retired who could work a few hours per week. However, she noted that there are other factors like having them go back through the academy or re-obtaining certification.
School Board Chair Steven Morris asked what the goal would be to have an officer at the elementary school, and asked Glasscock if she thought it would be for someone coming in from the outside or to protect from their own kids. She responded, “both.”
“Right now, our biggest concentration is to educate the kids,” Morris said.
Glasscock cut him off and said, “Our biggest concentration should be keeping our kids safe first.”
Morris said that they are doing that, but Glasscock responded, “Are we, though?”
School Board member Melissa Mitchler added, “Are we keeping our staff safe?”
Morris said that he is old school and discussed how the laws have changed from since he was growing up when students would have their safe space where they had resources to address issues. He said there are legal aspects in today’s society that are different, but also agreed with Glasscock about how they want to keep the students as safe as possible.
“I understand the concern for safety,” Morris said.
Glasscock pointed out that there is a major mental health crisis nationwide, and Newport is not exempt from that. She noted that at Ruger there is a security guard right when you walk in, and said the same goes for Newport Health Center. She suggested that this should also go for schools.
“We protect what matters most,” she said.
Magoon said that she does believe the laws still do allow the school to hold children accountable for their actions, but they also have to make sure everything is considered. She said there are ways to get students out of the district if the school recognizes they can’t meet the needs of a student, but it does cost money to send a student somewhere else.
School board member Kathryn Boutin said for the sake of discussion, they “need to decide what we are talking about.” She noted that if it is that the board feels they want Magoon to talk to the police chief about hiring another SRO, they should make a motion. She added that she feels safe sending her kid to school.
She noted that recently the school, the children and the police acted accordingly.
“There was a whisper of a threat,” Boutin said. “They shut down and figured it out and opened back up. That’s what I want to happen. So I don’t want to take the number of instances and imply a lack of safety from that. I think the number of instances is related to outside forces.”
Bert Spaulding, a former school board member and current selectman who attends meetings regularly, said that he does not believe in a police state in the classroom.
“Put 10 officers in there, it doesn’t work,” he said. “Put two in there. Doesn’t work.”
He added, “Holding kids back is not child abuse.”
Boutin pointed out that the Newport Police Department is fully staffed for the first time since 2019, so they probably aren’t hiring any time soon. However, she said if someone wanted to make a motion they could vote as a board. Glasscock said that it did not seem to be a general consensus, and she was happy to have a discussion about what she felt strongly about.
“Safety is important to all of us, everyone in town,” Morris replied.