SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield School Committee unanimously approved a 45-day extension of a much-debated contract that lets police patch into school cameras in live time during an emergency.
During the committee’s first meeting of the year on Jan. 2, School Committee member LaTonia Monroe Naylor said the hope is to have official recommendations for the next iteration of the memorandum of understanding between the School Department and Police Department by the full School Committee meeting on Jan. 23.
The Legislative and Contracts Subcommittee will meet “as soon as possible” to officially discuss the updated language with the attorneys, Monroe Naylor said.
“We’re asking for a 45-day [extension], I don’t realistically think it’s going to take that long,” Monroe Naylor said.
In preparation for this new MOU, the Legislative and Contracts Subcommittee conducted two meetings at the end of 2024 to gather residents’ concerns and questions about the current iteration of the MOU, which has been in effect since 2021.
According to information provided by the city, the school camera policy allows the Springfield Police Department’s Real-Time Crime Analysis Center and the civilian video analyst live access to these cameras only in the event of emergencies, like when there is an active shooter, or other life-threatening situations.
Since the inception of the agreement three years ago, the interior cameras have been accessed eight times in total. Seven of those times were prank “swatting” calls while the other involved the incident at Springfield’s High School of Science and Technology in the spring where shots were fired inside the school. The Sci-Tech incident was considered the only “real-time use” for the cameras.
During the two public meetings, students expressed concern about police access to the cameras, with some asking for more transparency and better clarity in the MOU. City officials, meanwhile, attempted to quell residents’ concerns during the first public meeting.
“We don’t want to watch inside the schools,” Akers said during the Nov. 14 public meeting. “We don’t know what you do, we don’t know when you go to class; we don’t care about any of that, unless someone is in there attempting to hurt some people. That’s when we come into play.”
Before the School Committee officially extended the current contract for another 45 days, Superintendent Sonia Dinnall commended students for showing up to the public meetings to express their opinions on the contract.
“Amazing, thoughtful, insightful ideas were shared by the students and the family members and the community members who were present,” Dinnall said. “We collected that information, and I believe the subcommittee will do their due diligence with the attorneys to ensure that several of those suggestions that were made end up in the language of the MOU.”
Although the School Committee will likely vote on a three-year extension of the updated MOU, School Committee member Joesiah Gonzalez said he hopes that the committee can look at implementing a five-year term for the contract.
“I’m hopeful we can get this even for a five-year term, so that way this body or any future members of this committee, can have it in place for a little longer without having to just come back to this thing every three years,” Gonzalez said.
Mayor Domenic Sarno agreed with Gonzalez’s sentiment and added that this MOU is crucial for the safety of the schools.
“This is purely for the safety of our children, the students, the teachers, administration staff and visitors to school,” Sarno said.