Ellenville School Resource Officers
Posted on 01/13/2023
The Ellenville Central School District is pleased to introduce its new team of School Resource Officers (SROs): Anthony Conde, Felicia Torres, and Ulysses Young. Richard Jacobs will serve as a substitute. The team has come on board through a one-year agreement between the school district, the Village of Ellenville, and the Ellenville Police Department. The agreement was approved during a Board of Education meeting in November.
Each full-time SRO brings with them years of experience in law enforcement and extensive familiarity with the school district and the surrounding community. Officer Torres will be assigned to Ellenville Elementary School, Officer Conde will serve the Junior High School, and Officer Young will be stationed at the Senior High School.
“These are well-respected officers and highly trusted individuals in the community,” said Superintendent of Schools Lisa Wiles. “Their knowledge and experience make them each a tremendous asset to the Ellenville school district.”
The main goals of the School Resource Officer program are to provide safe learning environments for students and staff and to help bridge the gap between the local police department and the school district. While the officers’ primary roles will be to assist and protect students and staff members in an emergency or a crisis situation, their day-to-day responsibilities will go well beyond that.
“They are an added layer of security, but they are also in the buildings to forge relationships with the students,” said Ellenville Police Chief and Board of Education President Philip Mattracion. “They will provide resources, serve as role models, and act as liaisons between the police department and the schools to collaborate on anything that needs to be addressed.”
As the SROs begin to establish a visible presence in the schools this year, they hope to become trusted mentors to the students and to help dispel any misconceptions that they may have about police officers. As Officer Torres greeted youngsters in the Elementary School cafeteria one afternoon and tossed a football around with students during recess later that day, it was clear that these positive changes were already underway.
“I want to help create open lines of communication and make sure the students feel comfortable coming to me for whatever they may need,” Officer Torres said.
Wiles explained that the Board of Education began having discussions about reinstituting the District’s SRO program last year, following the many school tragedies that had taken place throughout the country. The program is being paid for by the school district, with the agreement being up for renewal each year.
“We are thankful that the Village and the Police Department were on board and eager to begin the process of bringing SROs back into our schools,” she said. “We believe it is a program that will benefit not only our schools but also the entire community.”