Special Card-Access Security Doors Coming To Middletown Schools

MIDDLETOWN, NJ ? It was just announced this week that the Middletown school district received a half-a-million grant from the federal Department of Justice.

The money will be used to install special security doors at various points throughout the district. The doors can only be accessed by key cards, which only certain school officials will have access to, said school board president Frank Capone.

All 16 schools in the district will be getting these doors, said Capone. Where the doors will be installed will be strategically selected by the Middletown school district's director of security and school administration (superintendent Mary Ellen Walker and others).

The grant is specifically $491,000 from the Department of Justice?s School Violence Prevention Program. The Middletown school district applied for the grant and was approved, said Capone.

However, Capone lamented the fact that the Middletown school district cannot use the federal money to help pay for the armed police officers that have been placed in all 16 schools in the district.

Apparently, the federal grant cannot be used to pay for the armed officers. The funding cannot be used toward salaries/benefits for current employees, said a spokeswoman for Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ6), which helped secure the grant.

The cost of having these Class-3 special law enforcement officers in Middletown schools is very expensive, Capone and BOE vice president Jacqueline Tobacco previously said.

"We are thankful to receive the earmarked grant for key card access security doors," said Capone this week. "However, it would have been a much more impactful grant if we could use this money (towards the) officers. What's astonishing is that Abbott districts like Perth Amboy and New Brunswick ? already receiving the most funding in the state ? were given grants to fund officers, while suburban school districts like Middletown continue to be forced to fund their own."

Capone has previously said that Gov. Phil Murphy and the state teachers' union should be reimbursing schools for the cost of having armed officers in schools.

Middletown Township and the school district made the decision to hire the special law enforcement officers in a shared services agreement, but it is the Middletown school district that is solely paying the cost of their hiring. It is projected to cost the district $1.4 million the first year (2022-23) and $1.3 million the second year (23-23).

The Class-3 officers will be paid $35 an hour, which is much less than the rate for off-duty police. It is still an enormous cost to the district, Tobacco said previously.