BERNE — As Berne-Knox-Westerlo officials have fought a proposal that would send the school’s resource officer to a higher-crime area, BKW’s superintendent was encouraged yesterday.

“We were encouraged that the Senate has indicated that it opposes the redeployments,” said Steven Schrade yesterday.  “That was a hopeful sign for us.” 

For the past five years, BKW has received federal and state funding for State Trooper Steven Rothwein to be stationed permanently at the school. 

When he came to BKW five years ago, Rothwein, who grew up in Kinderhook, saw his role as more than a law enforcement officer.  He said he wanted to be a teacher and mentor and that he’d accepted the position because he wanted to work with children.

If the proposal is passed, Rothwein would be removed from the school and BKW would have to hire its own security or go without.  The deadline for the state budget is April 1, but it is often passed after the date. 

The BKW School District is in the Helderberg Hilltowns, a rural area patrolled by state and county police.  The Albany County Sheriff’s Department’s patrol station is located in the adjacent town of New Scotland. 

Earlier this month, Schrade; BKW’s business administrator, Timothy Holmes; and school board members Maureen Sikule and Helen Lounsbury met with Assemblyman John McEneny and Senator Neil Breslin, state legislators who represent the Hilltowns.  BKW also launched a letter-writing campaign through its e-mail notification system. 

Both McEneny and Breslin were sympathetic, Schrade said.  BKW’s message was that the district wants Rothwein to remain at the school.  Schrade listed the reasons they gave. 

“The presence of Steve helps us to mitigate, certainly, if not avoid, the lengthy response time with Troopers or police,” Schrade said.  “That is a luxury I didn’t have as school principal.”  Schrade was BKW’s high-school principal in the 1990s before being hired as the district’s superintendent. 

With the number of threats, Schrade said, either real or imagined, that are directed at BKW and to schools in general — bomb threats or threats of violence via e-mail — it’s a comfort to have Rothwein at the school to address threats promptly. 

“We don’t have many of them,” Schrade said, adding that, Rothwein assesses whether threats are real and if the school can continue with its daily routine.  “We certainly rely on that advice.” 

The former governor, Eliot Spitzer, said schools could replace school resource officers with officers of local police agencies or hire their own private security, Schrade said.  The sheriff’s department, he said, doesn’t have enough officers to contribute, and BKW cannot afford to hire its own private security. 

Some districts are able to afford their own security, Schrade said, such as Guilderland and Bethlehem, districts that both have a larger tax base.  Guilderland’s school resource officers — one stationed in the middle school and the other in the high school — are both Guilderland Police officers and are paid jointly by the town and school district. 

Schrade said of BKW having a school resource officer, “Here’s pretty much a gift from the state that did not require local funding and one advantage we have.  Senator Breslin understood that.” 

On Tuesday, Schrade said, he and Rothwein attended a safety workshop in Saratoga Springs on bullying and cyber-bullying.  Yesterday, he said, a student admitted to smoking marijuana and Rothwein drove the student home.

“So it’s a great advantage to have him here,” Schrade said.