Associated Press
AMHERST, N.H. (AP) - At Souhegan Cooperative High School the students have spoken, and their message is clear - they don’t want a police officer stationed in the school.
In most school districts, officials probably wouldn’t do much more than acknowledge the message, then make the decision on their own. But this isn’t most school districts, and here the students have a voice.
At Souhegan, major decisions go before the district’s Community Council, a group comprised of 25 students, 10 faculty and five community members.
Proposals evolve in committee chambers, take shape as council bills and then head to the council floor for debate and eventually a vote. The system is based on a similar program of student involvement used in Hanover.
And on Monday, the council voted 25-16 against placing an Amherst police officer in the school part time.
“We have to respect the process,” said Ted Hall, the school’s principal.
The Souhegan Cooperative School Board, which still makes the ultimate decision, will receive the defeated proposal Thursday, and will decide whether it should honor the council’s vote.
“My sense is the board will go with the recommendation,” said board member Jeanne Ludt, who also has a seat on the council. “But I don’t know for sure. You can’t bet the ranch on anything.”
If the board upholds the decision, the officer will devote more time at Amherst Middle School, which approved the plan. Amherst police intended to have the officer work at both schools on a part-time basis with the backing of outside grants.
But the plan’s many critics feared the officer would mostly search and discipline teen-agers. They also disliked that the officer would carry a gun, and felt the proposal eroded the school’s code of trust between adults and teens.
Before the vote Hall, who does not have a seat on the council, told the panel that regardless of the decision, it should “celebrate the thoughtful process it has undertaken.”