By ANDY GARDNER

 North Country Now

MASSENA -- The village mayor says if they and school district hire an armed police officer to patrol Massena schools, the position will be "vastly different" than in the past, mainly focused on safety and security.

The village and school board are going into talks to create the position, which officials are referring to as a "school resource officer."

"The movement to school resource officers now in the country are... primarily security and safety, particularly when it come stopping an armed intruder," Mayor Tim Currier said at Tuesday's village board meeting. "The school resource officer won't be handling incidents in the school, the officers on duty will handle that."

The Massena school district had an officer patrolling their campuses in the mid-2000s.

Massena Central Superintendent Pat Brady has said he believes the in-school law enforcement official should be armed. Currier said he "absolutely" agrees.

"There would be no reason to have them in that position if it wasn't armed. We're trying to keep our kids safe," the mayor said.

During the board meeting, Currier asked the village trustees if they were okay with him negotiating for the village as they hash out an agreement with the school district.

Currier is a former police chief, and the in-school officer will likely be hired through the Massena Police Department.

"We're at the stages now where we would sit down with members of the school board and discuss the actual contract," Currier said.

There was some concern among trustees about how the position will be funded.

Trustee Francis Carvel noted that the Massena school district includes parts of four towns, plus includes students from Akwesasne. He believes that the towns of Massena, Louisville, Brasher, Norfolk and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe should help fund any part of the tab that the district doesn't pick up.

"If there's three months in there where that individual's not covered, the other entities should take part of that," Carvel said, referring to the summer months. "I don't think the village should be entirely responsible for the school district's problem."

"To be clear we will not be handling it" financially, Currier said.

Trustee Tim Ahlfeld, participating in his final meeting as a trustee, agreed with Carvel, and added that the state should fund the position as a line item in the state budget, rather than their current method of giving districts an allotment of money through Title IV funding to be used for unspecified school health and safety measures.

"I agree with you," said Ahlfeld, a former Massena school board member. "My thoughts on this is the State Ed Department should line item this 100 percent every year.

"I have the same fear that this could end up back on the village's lap, financially. Do I think it's a good idea to have a police officer in and around the school? Absolutely do it."

He said the school and village should also consider the school cop also being involved with Trinity Catholic School and Holy Name of Jesus Academy.

"You've got to look out for those kids too. There's seven buildings we should be looking out for," he said, referring to the three elementary schools, the junior high and high school plus the two parochial schools.

He also suggested the officer's contract could call for them to patrol school activities in the summer time, possibly including summer school.

"They may structure the contract to not even employ them in the summer," Deputy Mayor Matt Lebire said.