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BOE: No to security personnel in campuses
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Posted on Dec 29 2000
The State Board of Education yesterday voted against a Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council resolution requesting the Public School System to hire and station uniformed security guards in public school campuses.
BOE member Esther Fleming strongly expressed opposition to the measure, saying that PSS students do not need to be exposed to a tight-security school environment at the risk of making them feel like “criminals.”
“Our kids are very good kids. They’re not criminals. We don’t need security guards in uniforms to treat them as such. They are going through their pre-adolescent stage. This is precisely why we’re developing character education in schools,” said Ms. Fleming.
The municipal council led by its Chair Gregorio Deleon Guerrero and Vice Chair David A. Indalecio has signed recently a resolution prodding PSS officials to require all security personnel hired and assigned to all schools to wear uniform while on duty in order to maintain law and order inside campuses.
According to the council, there are still schools where criminal acts are committed by students and these could be deterred with the presence of security personnel.
The municipal council officials added the security personnel in schools could be more effective if they wear appropriate uniform and properly equipped with hand radio and other security gadgets. They said security personnel should also be vested with power and authority to conduct search for contraband weapons.
By so doing, all schools shall be freed from criminal acts and students can concentrate their efforts at working for academic excellence, according to the municipal council.
But Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos said there has been no grave discipline problems occurring in schools as PSS’ focus has always been directed at intensifying preventive programs targeted to keep the kids away from trouble before they even start.
“I’d rather that we hire night time security so there will be individuals manning the campus during the evenings,” suggested BOE member Anthony Pellegrino.
