The Tupper Lake Central School District Office at the L.P. Quinn Elementary School is seen on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

TUPPER LAKE — Staffing shortages have left the Tupper Lake Village Police unable to provide a school resource officer for the Tupper Lake Central School District. Last year, the district had one sworn police officer stationed between its two school buildings during regular hours through a services contract paid by the district.

TLCSD Superintendent Jaycee Welsh said the district is in the process of lining up interviews to fill the position in-house, though much remains unknown at this time.

“There was a recent resignation within the department so they don’t have enough staff to be able to supply us with one,” she said. “This might be temporary or permanent, we’re just not sure. We need to see what the applicant pool looks like.”

Tupper Lake Village Mayor Mary Fontana said that since the resignation of Officer Zachery Rottier, effective May 18, the village has been unable to get the staffing levels back to where they can contract with the district for the role. Rottier left to take a position with the village of Potsdam Police Department. Fontana said the village continues to search for someone to fill the job, but until then, it doesn’t have enough staff to offer the service to the district.

Welsh said the first round of interviews will be handled by district staff before potentially inviting Tupper Lake community members to play a role in the search process.

“We’re about to have some interviews in the next couple of weeks,” she said. “We’ll see where the first round goes. We’re looking to do a ’round two’ with community participation, where community members would turn in questions and then they would observe the second round interview, and then they would submit feedback in writing.”

Since the person who ultimately fills the position will then be a school employee, as opposed to being directly employed by a law enforcement agency, Welsh said TLCSD had to adopt a use-of-force district policy for the authorized carrying of firearms, something the school board did at its August meeting on Aug. 4.

The policy stipulates that the employee must be “properly trained and certified” to carry a firearm and will have to perform the qualifications, at a minimum, on an annual basis with a state-certified range instructor in accordance state law.

“The training shall, at a minimum, be consistent with the 50-round New York State Division of Criminal Justice qualification course of fire for active duty police officers. (AKA “HR-218” or “LEOSA” training). A passing score of 70% with factory ammunition is required,” the policy states.

The policy adds that the only firearm and ammunition the employee will be allowed to bring on to TLCSD property is that which they are currently approved and qualified to carry. Furthermore, the firearm and ammunition must always be stored on their person, with the firearm to remain secured in a district-approved safety retention holder to only be displayed or removed if it is required for the school safety officer’s duty in accordance with state law governing the justifiable use of physical force in defense of a person.

When the school safety officer is off-duty, the policy adds that the firearm and ammunition cannot be kept on school property “unless the firearm and ammunition is stored in an appropriate locked safe with the Superintendent’s prior approval.”

The firearm’s routine cleaning and maintenance must be performed off of school grounds, and the policy adds that the employee is to meet with local, county and state law enforcement “on a regular basis” to review building and premises familiarization, as well as with the TLCSD superintendent to review the firearm possession and related procedures. The school resource officer must also give an annual presentation to district staff members about various emergency procedures, including shelter-in-place, evacuation, lockout and lockdown, and situations, such as active shooter awareness training.

Welsh said, as is the case with its other policies, TLCSD received guidance and assistance from the New York State School Boards Association in developing the policy, which was informed by other school districts that employ in-house school safety officers. As far as the cost, Welsh said it’s a wash when compared to what the district was contracting with the TLPD for a provided school resource officer.

“It’s about the same,” she said. “We will have to pay benefits whereas before, the village paid benefits but then we had to pay a different salary range because they were employed by the village PD.”

TLCSD’s policy on the use of force and authorized carrying of firearms can be viewed in its entirety at tinyurl.com/yb2a3xdn.