Chatham Police Look To Recruit School Officers Amid Parent Complaints 

CHATHAM, NJ — When district officials presented the official referendum questions last month, numerous parents questioned why the district was putting more thought into establishing security vestibules rather than spending the money to pay for more police security at the schools.

In particular, several parents called out how there is currently only one special law enforcement officer between all of the schools in the borough.

"We have not had a fully staffed security officer roster across both the borough and township for over a year, so if something's not working, if there is no pool, and we are just waiting around for these officers... then we have to do something different," resident Raquel Zilnicki said.

In response to parents, board president Jill Weber stated that the money would also be there to hire more Class III special law enforcement officers, but that it's not up to the district to hire more.

"The schools cannot hire Class III's. They have to be hired by the police department, and the police department does their best in interviewing. There are very few Class III officers available," Weber said.

Class III special law enforcement officers are armed and are retired officers from the police force. Although they are funded through the Board of Education budget, they are still considered members of the local police departments.

In a recent announcement, the Chatham Borough Police Department stated that they are currently looking to hire additional Class II and Class III Special Law Enforcement Officers for the local school district.

Details about the open positions, as well as how to apply, may be found here. All applicants must have at least 60 college credits from an authorized college or university or two years of law enforcement or military service.

According to officials, the starting salary is $40 per hour, with the possibility of overtime and extra-duty assignments.

"We are continuing to invest in police, and we will continue to do so, and there is no person in Chatham who wants police in schools more than yours truly," Chatham Superintendent Michael LaSusa said.

More than half of New Jersey's school districts do not have armed police officers, but LaSusa stated that having police in every school is a "priority." Until recently, all Chatham schools, grades 4 through 12, had solely armed officers on campus.

"In the township, we, fortunately, have three schools, all of which are covered with police. Lafayette and the high school have two fellas who have been here for a number of years now. We lost our police officer at the beginning of the year last year at Southern; we replaced him with Officer Dave. In the borough, at the time we submitted the budget, we did have two officers employed. One of them resigned at the beginning of the summer, and Chief Gibbons is doing everything he can to find replacements," LaSusa said.