
Two concerned parents in the Eastport-South Manor School District recently circulated a petition asking the School Board to add a proposition to next year’s school budget ballot: a referendum on adding armed security guards to the district’s schools.
Peter McGuire of Manorville and Mickey Byrnes of Manor Park collected 625 written signatures from district residents after knocking on doors and spending a day outside of the Manorville King Kullen. Other community members also helped get signatures on the petitions, which then were presented to the Board of Education.
The petition calls for adding a proposition to the ballot to approve the hiring of four to six trained armed guards for the five schools in the district. They created a Facebook page that promoted the petition and informed residents of when they were planning to be at King Kullen.
“The main reason for the armed guards is to reduce the response time during an emergency. It most likely won’t prevent them, but it will reduce the response time,” Mr. McGuire said.
The two men met earlier in the year, when they attended a School Board meeting in which members were discussing ways to allocate the district’s $2.2 million Smart Schools Bond state grant to improve infrastructure and security. They were dissatisfied with existing school security measures and wanted to voice their opinions on what could be done.
“With everything else that’s going on, I’d rather be proactive than reactive,” Mr. Byrnes said, referring to school shootings in the country and calls he has received from the superintendent on incidents at his daughter’s school. “I don’t want to be the person to sit there and get a phone call.”
Mr. McGuire, an accountant in Rocky Point, has two daughters, one in fifth grade and the other in eighth grade, and Mr. Byrnes, a detective for the New York Police Department, has a daughter in fifth grade.
The board formed a security committee in June not long after that initial meeting, co-chaired by board members Jeffrey Goldhammer and Marie Brown, and made up of community members, including Mr. McGuire and Mr. Byrnes. The two men said they felt that not enough steps were being taken by the committee, so they took matters into their own hands.
“The security of the children is not something that can wait. Something has to be done now,” Mr. McGuire said.
After presenting the idea to the School Board, the men said that members refused to vote on it themselves, but considered letting residents vote instead. However, the men were told that despite the number of signatures they get, the board will not be forced to add anything to the ballot.
They presented the 625 signatures at the November 14 board meeting, and members were “definitely more open to the policy of having armed guards outside of the school” than when the idea was first introduced, Mr. McGuire said.
To compare the number of signatures to the number of votes on the district budget, this year’s budget in May received 1,484 votes and last year’s budget received 1,244 votes.
Now, the men are reaching out to other schools on Long Island that have implemented armed guards and plan to present their findings at the January 9 board meeting.
Assistant Superintendent of Business Timothy Laube estimated the cost of having six full-time armed guards, plus one part-time officer to monitor after-school sports at the high school, at a base number of $470,600. He added that the cost is ultimately dependent on who wins the lowest bid and excludes possible staffing for summer programs and special events, like weekend sports games and graduations.
The high school currently has four to six unarmed guards monitoring the halls during the day, which Mr. Laube said they will keep regardless of whether a decision is made to add armed guards.
“We don’t want armed guards interacting with children,” Mr. Laube said. “If, for example, a fight broke out between students, armed guards would not intervene—unarmed guards would get involved in that situation.”
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Brimstein said that $1 million of the Smart Schools Bond funds will be used to install improved security cameras and glass-enclosed security booths at school entrances with ID scanners, among other enhancements. He added that the administration is constantly engaging with the Suffolk County Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department, Homeland Security and the Secret Service, whose officers are as equally concerned about school safety.
“Technology is one aspect of it, but we do need other aspects,” Mr. McGuire said, referring to armed guards.
Dr. Brimstein also said that they are planning to focus more on helping students with mental health issues and offer more social and emotional learning as a way to prevent potential school violence.
“My strong talking point is this: Proactive early intervention prevents violence,” he said. “There is a segment of the community that believes armed guards will be helpful. This is not a question of, are you for armed guards or safety? The question is, how do we best take from research and from officers and implement the best practices?”
Dr. Brimstein did not say whether he was in favor of bringing armed guards to the schools—he said the board would decide how to proceed and he will act accordingly. The board has not yet voted on whether to add the proposition to the ballot. Board members did not respond to requests for comment on the measure.
Some other schools on the East End have implemented either armed security guards or school resource officers assigned from local police departments to patrol school grounds. Many of them were added as a response to recent shoot shootings across the nation.
Montauk School added three armed guards in June, with only one on duty at a time. East Hampton School District has one SRO for the high school and another SRO for the middle and elementary schools, and Westhampton Beach School District has one SRO for its three schools.
“There is a sense of greater safety. All of my faculty have expressed that they feel safer,” Montauk School Superintendent J. Philip Perna said when asked about the benefits of having an armed guard. “Any parents who have spoken to me have always said that they appreciate that we have them.”
Westhampton Beach School Superintendent Michael Radday said he is pleased with their SRO program that began this school year. Unlike armed guards, SROs also provide educational services to the school’s student body.
“It’s going exceptionally well. Officer Andrew Kirwin is highly respected by our faculty and students,” Mr. Radday said. “Overall, it’s part of a comprehensive approach to school safety and security. But in a way, it’s much more than that. He acts as a liaison to faculty and staff as a school and community resource.”
Officer Kirwin has educated students in all grades on topics including stranger danger, social media danger and anti-bullying, Mr. Radday added.
Mr. Byrnes and Mr. McGuire said they also pursued the idea of SROs, but were told by Suffolk County Police that there was not enough personnel to assign officers to their school district. The Eastport-South Manor Central School District is split between the towns of Brookhaven and Southampton, but most of the campuses are in Brookhaven.
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The solution to firearm violence is absolutely not more firearms!
Go ahead and look, I'll wait.
"I've just stopped proposing gun control because I no longer think it will have an effect; there are simply too many guns held by the public for meaningful legislation to stop one from falling into the wrong hands."
To be even more clear: I would not support a politician who proposes repeal of the second amendment and I think the Supreme Court decision interpreting the Second Amendment as an individual's right ...more to own a handgun in the home was correctly decided.
Dianne Feinstein
She also supports restrictions to free speech and thinks it is legal ti hunt humans, a towering intellect of the Left.
What's wrong with the belief that those decisions were made correctly?
How is "politician" a qualifier? Rephrased for the pendants: I would not support repeal of the second amendment.
So you see, Fred, you are part of the problem because you can't fix something that isn't correctly diagnosed.
Who said thoughts and prayers were a solution Freddy? Of course extending "thoughts and prayers" offers comfort, just as it does to anyone who loses a loved one. Gun violence is tracked. It's how being involved in a mass shootings can be characterized as highly unlikely in spite of approximately ...more 393 million guns in circulation.
How do you think we can stop "not normal" people from being capable of mass shootings? Or do you think we shouldn't try?
I can't blame people who would rather compel the government to take action that suggest individuals think and pray on it.
Same goes for anxiety.
Mental health issues + guns are a dangerous combination, often times for individuals who have both (suicide is real).
I'll be keeping an eye on this one (Young v. Hawaii).
Get it now?
You have much more confidence in anyone's ability to sustain an elaborate lie than I do.
Please indulge us, Disease: how can we be enlightened critical thinkers like you?
“What a morning...”
8:00 I made a snowman.
8:10 A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn’t make a snow woman.
8:15 I made a snow woman.
8:17 The nanny of the neighbours complained about the snow woman's voluptuous chest.
8:20 The gay couple living nearby grumbled that it could have been two snowmen instead.
8:25 The vegans at No. 12 complained about the carrot nose, as veggies ...more are food and not to decorate snow figures with.
8:28 I am being called a racist because the snow couple is white.
8:31 The Muslim gent across the road wants the snow woman to wear a headscarf.
8:40 Someone calls the cops who show up to see what’s going on.
8:42 I am told the broomstick of the snowman needs to be removed because it could be used as a deadly weapon. Things get worse after I mutter : "Yeah, if it's up your a***"
8:52 My phone is seized and thoroughly checked while I am blindfolded and flown to the police station in a helicopter.
9:00 I'm on the news as a suspected terrorist bent on stirring up trouble at this sensitive time.
9:10 I am asked if I have any accomplices.
9:29 ISIS just claimed responsibility...
By the way, how's Theresa May doing with Brexit? Heard Parliament laughed at her today...multiple times. Europe is falling apart at the seems. The big 3 are turning into Cuba and Venezuela as we speak....
I think the "joke" is a lame attempt at characterizing liberals as something they aren't, but don't let me stop you from having fun.
LOL...THAT is crazy!
It sure sounds like you're alluding to something but avoiding saying it to not be painted with the same brush as the others.
In any event, independent readers can decide for themselves whether you are or aren't suggesting that mass shootings are false flag conspiracies.
I'm sure the independent readers could care less how the issue is being painted - or not. That speaks more to your personal quest.
We have enough of those people around.
That's lazy and disingenuous - for starters.
Ending your thought at beholder. would have been better served.
If you did please let me know. Your fence-riding is not adding clarity to the discussion.
By Po Boy (3111), Water Mill on Dec 11, 18 2:06 PM
I'm just glad you're not propagating conspiracy theories about false flag attacks.
Isn't that a fair statement?
Now if you could only learn to post on topic. Call me crazy.
Who made you or any of the cabal the arbiter of interesting "coincidences?"
I am inquiring if your support for one aspect of their theory, the alleged financial motive, is evidence of support for their broader theory.
If not, great!
If yes, I would question your intelligence.
That you cannot say one way or the other already speaks volumes.
The unhinged Left is cold and calculated.
They are motivated and devious.
They will stop at nothing to move their agenda forward.
They would willingly accept and inflict collateral damage in their quest.
I trust nothing about them in their political motivations.
So when something of interest or "coincidence" occurs, don't blame those who think critically about the circumstances.
I do blame "critical thinkers" who propagate baseless conspiracy theories about false flag mass shootings.
If you say some billionaire obtained a financial benefit from a tragedy I'll take your word for it.
If you say it was a motive for perpetrating a false flag attack, I'd ask for corroborating evidence.
If you say a mass shooting was "pre meditated ...more theatre to get non critical thinkers all riled up" and that "victims and survivors are paid actors" I'd question your intelligence and dismiss you outright as a fool.
THAT'S looney.
I can just see Fred and Fore1gn talking to you in a room and not being able to make eye contact with you like that spineless coward Schumer did today with our President. I hope he does shut it down now. Cryin’ Chuck looked like a little boy in grade school that was getting yelled at for pulling little Lucy’s hair in art class. Spineless, liberal punk.
I can't believe he fell for that, and neither can the rest of Congress.
Just go ahead and look up their bipartisan reactions to the back-and-forth...hilarious.
I believe the Coast Guard exists to stop smuggling. Therefore they could have been tasked with building an anti-smuggling wall on the Mexican border 2 years ago. Instead, Coast Guard vessels and personnel are in the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran protecting rich Arab sheikhs from angry Persians.
It's all ...more political theater and the people of the United States have been abandoned by both parties including President Trump and Senator Schumer.
Don't take my word for it, take the word of the United States Justice Department:
"According to the affidavit in support of the complaint, from as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature ...more of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank. This Russian official was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2018."
Quote:
"Well, when George Soros makes millions after anticipation of a momentary drop in stock price of a company where a mass shooting takes place, critical thinkers do tend to question that, or at minimum, with a raised eyebrow. Others, simple dismiss it as coincidence."
-------------------------------------
What, PRECISELY, are you implying THIS time, Po Boy? That George Soros secretly LIKES mass-shootings? That he deliberately inflames unstable Right-Wing ...more gun nuts with his anti-gun zealotry in order to drive them to commit mass-murders so that he can profit off the resultant drop in the stock market? Just what additional infantile casuistry are you promoting THIS time to add to your previous farcical, unsubstantiated defamations of an honorable man (for no reason other than that he uses his wealth to support causes to which YOU object?)
Please do us readers the courtesy of eschewing your habitual, tedious misdirection.
Be SPECIFICALLY RESPONSIVE for once.
He thinks by keeping the suggestion of a false flag conspiracy at arm's length he's keeping his nose clean, but whether or not he actually believes in it (let's face it, even the dumbest among us know bettter), he's not fooling anyone.
A set of particulars is sometimes simply that... "Interesting."
Now, as you spin your brains into a tizzy, asked yourselves, "who are the conspiracy theorists?"
The way you avoid questions speaks volumes.
Multiple, reliable sources have confirmed Donald Trump has plans to step down as President of the United States, effective at Noon in Monday, January 20, 2025.
Dopey.
"1.Left wing terrorists are killing at a rate of 2.6 to 1 since 2016.
First, look at the year I referenced, the year everything that could have gone wrong for little snowflakes who bought into the democrat con job that made mother Hillary your candidate and left the rest of us with the lesser evil.
So, how many left and right terrorists murders occurred SINCE 2016. You should know, ...more you pasted in your post, proving me CORRECT not wrong. Here it is for you....
"Left Wing terrorists killed only 23 people in terrorist attacks during this time, about 0.7% of the total number of murders, but 13 since the beginning of 2016. Nationalist and Right Wing terrorists have only killed five since then, including Charlottesville. Regardless, the annual chance of being murdered by a Left Wing terrorist was about 1 in 330 million per year."
OK, we have 13 on the left, 5 on the right.......are you following along here?
2016....13....5
Let's get to some math. If you double 5 you get 10. That is a 2 to 1, but it's not what we have. We have 13. So....DIVIDE 13 by 5.....2.6.
So. Left to right since 2016 is 2.6 to 1.
My facts are spot on.
In the 1980's left wing terrorist in the U.S. accounted for 3/4 of all domestic terrorist attacks.
I narrowed it to since 2016 because that's the year all of you left wingers think evil began and gave rise and legitimized scum like michael isaacson, the uncivilized activity of mob mentality and chasing people from restaraunts because apparently they are not allowed to have a difference of opinion. Using violence to suppress free speech, and then considering it "understandable" Dont forget its open season on our nation's Police, who aren't included in the equation but have seen an uptick of roughly 67% in fatalities and 10 times the number of ambushed killings."
Let me know if I should use smaller words.
Probably because it ends in August of 2017 before six of the deadliest 25 mass shootings since 1949.
Among them is the 2017 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, where a right-wing terrorist killed 11.
Your dates also exclude the 2015 Charleston church shooting, where a right-wing terrorist killed 9.
Basically, your entire comment is deceptive.
The Pulse nightclub shootings also represented the only lethal incident involving domestic Islamic extremists in 2016, though a particularly deadly one. As with all extremist movements, it is important to note there were also other incidents in 2016 where domestic Islamic extremists attempted or plotted at deadly violence, but were unsuccessful.
Over the past 10 years (2007-2016), domestic extremists of all kinds have killed at least 372 people in the United States. Of those deaths, approximately 74% were at the hands of right-wing extremists, about 24% of the victims were killed by domestic Islamic extremists, and the remainder were killed by left-wing extremists.
Obviously the song is from a different era, but how would you feel if your daughter was persistently pursued after telling someone "the answer is no"?
As for Kevin Hart, why was he so resistant to apologizing despite having done so in the past? What's so wrong about having a gay son?
Point is, if you don't couch your data in very tight parameters, your entire point is undermined.
Womp womp.
I have no doubt Bayman will remain unconvinced.
My hope is that other readers who stumbled upon his previous post and thought "he might be right" will read on and see how his point crumbled under scrutiny, then all he had left was personal attacks.
2nd ammendment is here to stay, besides the fact changing it will just allow the black market for guns richer.
Protecting our children by placing trained armed guards makes perfect sense, and as of right now, the easiest and quickest way to do so before another tragedy.
You two can't see past a lost election and would rather not protect ...more the schools and sit back throwing temper tantrums until you get your way and change gun laws. Guards can always be removed if something changes. It's called common sense, something lost on the both of you.
Your fragile view on "baby it's cold outside" is also ignorant. The song was written in 1944, with 1944 moral values. You interpret the song with 2018 moral values, far, FAR, less than 1944. If penned today, by let's say....snoop dog and cardi b....it would be a #1 hit promoting the Bill Cosby ideal date.
Applying your snowflake view:
A Charlie Brown Christmas should go, Linus gives a biblical quote. Not safe for today's moral view, and the kids aren't very nice to Charlie.
Throw Rudolph out, same bullying and non inclusive narrative detested by today's fragile minority.
Forget about A Christmas Story....the bullying and violence and gun violence against black bart...oh my!
Your ideal Christmas would be something along the lines of all 58 gender facebook accepted X's celebrating festivus, with the only acceptable topic of conversation so as to not hurt any feelings, debate on which is more adorable, kittens or bunnies.
Oh, and fred, your village is calling.
My only point is that your choice to start in 2016 and end in August of 2017 paints an incomplete picture by excluding several high-profile right-wing terrorist incidents.
As for armed guards in schools, I don't think I've ever opposed the idea.
As for "Baby it's cold outside", it's still on my Christmas playlist at home and I continue to enjoy the song with open eyes on its ...more origin and issues. Ignorance is pretending there's NOTHING wrong with pressuring a woman into physical intimacy after being told "the answer is no."
I don't know why you're talking about snoop dog or cardi b. Did anyone say their music was without faults?
As for your last question, it's neither kittens nor bunnies: The answer is puppies, fight me about it.
In any event, PLEASE tell me the truth: if your son's sexual advances were met with "the answer is no" (a lyrics from the song) is it acceptable for him to continue coaxing and cajoling his desired partner into physical intimacy?
I can accept that the language in the song conveys a confused perception of consent and still enjoy it when it comes on the radio, why can't ...more you?