By Joe Olenick<br><a href="mailto:joe.olenick@lockportjournal.com">E-mail Joe</a>
An RFP for the SRO position has gotten the A-OK from the Newfane School District Board of Education.
The board on Tuesday approved a request for proposal to fill the position of school resource officer. Earlier in the month, the district opted out of its contract with the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department, then directed Superintendent Gary Pogorzelski to draw up the RFP. An RFP is needed to solicit bids from organizations that would send a person to serve as Newfane’s SRO.
Pogorzelski said the entire process will go quickly, possibly concluding in a few weeks. The district has a short time, about two months, in which they’d want the position filled.
“We’ll go as quickly as we can,” he said.
The proposal is open to any private corporation, the New York State Police, Niagara County Sheriff’s Department or any police officer. It is also open to both current and retired officers, although there was some discussion about adding the word “past” to the requirement of law enforcement experience. The board wanted to add the word “past” so as not to exclude retired officers from being a part of the bidding process.
Board President Patrick Kilcullen said the RFP was written to be elastic, meaning the board and the district have options on how the rest of the SRO selection process can go. The board can also reject bids.
“This is the beginning, not the end,” Kilcullen said. “We can have oral presentations; we can ask and have them come in and present to us. We can ask them to provide qualifications of the individual; we can ask them to bring in the individual to interview them.”
The district will advertise the RFP, including a mandatory legal advertisement.
Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.
