Greeters to Be Added to Milford Elementary Schools

Board of Education Chairwoman Tracy Casey began the Board of Education Budget Workshop Tuesday night by reminding those in attendance about the realities of school budgets.

"We use last year's budget and we use forecasting," Casey said. "But it's not in any way a static document. We can't anticipate how many snow days we'll have." Casey went on to note that many of the budget figures were based on enrollment estimates that could change.

Milford Schools Security

One of the first issues that Chairwoman Casey touched on Tuesday night was safety in Milford Schools.

While the question of School Resource Officers will be addressed in the Mayor's budget, Milford Public Schools have set aside $131,000 to put one Greeter at each elementary school.

The Greeter would be at each elementary school every day and become part of the fabric of the school. They would be unarmed and paid between $14,000-$15,000 each school year.

Chairperson Casey noted that she spoke with Milford Police Chief Keith Mello to find out what he thought about adding a Greeter to each of the eight elementary schools in Milford.

"Our police department are the experts on security," Casey said, noting that a School Safety Work Committee was being re-established.

As Chairperson Casey explained it, she called Chief Mello and said, "Should greeters be greeters like they've been presented? Should they be employees? Should they be volunteers? Should they be security? Or Chief Mello, should it be a policeman?"

Casey noted that Chief Mello believed that having paid Greeter employees was the right course of action. "He felt very strongly that we did not need police in our elementary school," Casey added.

The Final Numbers

The Board of Education was able to cut an additional $27,025 than had originally been expected. The budget for the 2013-2014 school year will be $88.8 million, an increase of 2.29%.