Little Silver Voters Reject Tax Increase For Armed Officers In Schools

LITTLE SILVER, NJ — Correction: Middletown was not the first school district in Monmouth County to put armed Class 3 officers in its schools, as Patch incorrectly reported in an initial version of this story. Many Monmouth County school districts have some type of armed security in schools, be they Class 3 officers, school resource officers or armed security guards.

In September, the residents of Little Silver narrowly voted against a public ballot question that asked if they wanted to raise taxes to pay for armed police officers in all district schools.

The vote was held Sept. 17, and it narrowly failed. Out of 5,365 registered voters in the tiny town of Little Silver, 1,347 voted last month: 758 residents (56 percent) voted "no," and 587 residents (43 percent) voted "yes" to raise taxes to pay for the armed officers. That is according to these election results from the Monmouth County Clerk.

The district needed an additional $223,000 from taxpayers to put three Class-3 special law enforcement officers in all school buildings. This would have been above the annual 2 percent approved property tax increase for schools. Class-3 officers are police officers who retired within the past three years; they are permitted to carry guns.

The exact wording of the ballot question can be found here.

In 2022, Middletown installed armed Class-3 armed police officers in all 16 school buildings in the district. It was an idea pushed hard by Middletown Mayor Tony Perry immediately after the Uvalde, Texas school shooting in May of that year. It is enormously expensive: Although the officers were hired in a shared-services agreement with Middletown Township, it still cost the Middletown school district $1.3 - $1.4 million a year to pay for the officers.

Middletown just renewed the contract for the police officers, and they will remain in Middletown schools through June of 2026.

It was a coalition of multiple Little Silver parents — including Scott Galkin, who is running for a seat on the school board — who first said at a board of education meeting in February that Little Silver schools should have armed police officers in them.

"When advocating for the hiring of security officers in our schools, we never intended for this to be the sole measure of safety for our children," said Galkin this week. "Rather, we see it as an important additional layer — a redundancy to further ensure their protection. The recent events in the September school shooting in Georgia, where security officers successfully prevented the shooter from harming more children and teachers, highlight the critical role such officers can play in enhancing school safety. Additionally, it’s important to note that the surrounding towns to Little Silver, along with the majority of schools in Monmouth County, already have armed security in place."

Little Silver superintendent Eric Platt and the Little Silver school board unanimously voted to put the question to Little Silver residents. Little Silver BOE president Alicia Aninowsky, also running for re-election this fall, talked at length about the issue with Patch on Friday, Oct. 11:

"Historically, special elections like ours have had much lower voter turnout. Our voter turnout was comparatively high," she said. "The decision was made with approximately a 13 percent margin. What is interesting is that the question was turned down in every district in Little Silver except one, and in that district it tied, 82-82 votes. Those statistics can be found here."

She said the school district decided to ask Little Silver residents to pay more in property taxes instead of cutting school programs and extracurriculars — which the district would have had to do to fund the officers.

"The district ... is not prepared to compromise any of our existing programs or personnel to accommodate these additions in the budget," said superintendent Platt in this June letter to Little Silver residents, which outlined the daily expense of each officer. "Regrettably, the only avenue available to the district to increase revenue is by increasing the tax levy."

Both Platt and Aninowsky stressed the sensitivity of this topic.

"Parents and residents on both sides of the argument were, and still are, very emotional about the matter and I completely understand why," said Aninowsky. "We have experienced a petition and robo-texts put out by anonymous people saying our schools are unguarded. Not only is this completely false, but it's also very upsetting to parents as well as school staff who work hard to maintain our safe schools."

Platt stressed to the Two River Times last week that police officers could be at Point Road Elementary School and Markham Place Middle School in minutes. Also, Little Silver police officers are at schools daily monitoring drop-off and pick-up; they patrol campuses daily and often play kickball with the kids before school, he said.

"In addition to hardscaped, modern security features, we have an excellent relationship with the Little Silver Police Department," said Aninowsky Friday. "They are frequently in our schools for scheduled and non-scheduled walk-throughs and drills. Their presence is felt in our schools in a very positive way."

On this topic: Middletown Hires 11 Armed Officers To Patrol Schools, 5 More Coming (August 2022)

Meet Scott Galkin, Running For Little Silver Board Of Education (Oct. 2024)

Meet Alicia Aninowsky, Running For Little Silver Board Of Education (Oct. 2024)