Riverhead school board members sharply rebuked members of the Town Board Wednesday night, accusing town officials of making false statements, politicizing negotiations and misrepresenting the school district’s financial commitment to the school resource officer program.

Five school board members spoke during the board’s Sept. 16 meeting. None identified by name the town officials they criticized.

The remarks were the school board’s first sustained public response since the two boards’ disagreement over funding two Riverhead police officers assigned to Riverhead High School and Riverhead Middle School became public last month.

The response came one day after the Town Board unanimously tabled a proposed one-year agreement under which the district would contribute the $200,000 it budgeted for the current school year for the school resource officer program. Town Board members said questions remained about future funding, overtime and whether town taxpayers should bear any of the cost.

Although the prior agreement expired June 30, both governments included the SRO program in their current budgets.

The school district budgeted $200,000 for the school resource officers in its 2026-27 budget. District officials said the amount was their estimate of half the program’s cost for the school year.

The town’s adopted 2026 budget anticipates $160,000 in revenue in an account labeled “Police Fees — SRO Reimbursement.”

The budget does not identify a separate appropriation for the town’s share of the SRO program; the officers’ salaries are included in broader police personnel appropriations. Town Attorney Erik Howard told Town Board members during a Sept. 10 work session that the cost to the town would be roughly $150,000 for 2026.

Officers Eric Cohen and Kaley Castantine each have a 2026 base salary of $152,900.66, for a combined $305,801.32, according to the salary schedule unanimously approved by the Town Board in January. Their base salaries do not include fringe benefits or contractual compensation above base salary.

The town-district SRO program began under a 2018 agreement for one officer, primarily assigned to Riverhead High School, with the cost divided equally between the town and district.

The expired agreement covered the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. It required the district to pay 50% of the “cost to employ” one of the two SROs in the first year and 50% of the cost of both officers in the second year. Payments were to be prorated for the portions of the school year when school was in session.

The agreement did not expressly define the “cost to employ” as salary, benefits or other compensation.

Town board statements about district’s concern for student safety ‘completely false’: school board VP

School board Vice President Cynthia Redmond opened Wednesday’s discussion by defending the district’s commitment to school safety.

“Any suggestion that we do not take safety and security seriously is completely false,” Redmond said.

Redmond pointed to the district’s expansion of its security staff, surveillance systems and cybersecurity measures, the addition of mental health professionals and physical improvements to school entrances. The SROs are one part of a broader safety and security program, she said.

She also praised Cohen and Castantine, who have served as the district’s SROs for the past two years. She said the officers respond to emergencies, help keep unauthorized people off school property and develop relationships with students.

Redmond said she had been told the program resulted in a 60% reduction in 911 calls from the district, freeing other town police resources. She did not identify the source of that information and said she did not have a dollar estimate of any resulting savings to the town.

She also disputed assertions that the district had not budgeted for the program, pointing to the SRO allocation in the district’s adopted budget.

“I do want to assure the community that the school district remains committed to this program, both in rhetoric and in financial terms,” Redmond said.

Trustee Matt Wallace delivered a sharper response.

“It just really saddens me that they can sit up there on their podium and just put out these lies that we didn’t budget for it, and we truly did budget for it,” Wallace said.

Wallace also criticized town officials for questioning why the full school board had not attended town work sessions. School board members are unpaid volunteers, he said, and the entire seven-member board cannot participate in a meeting together unless it is conducted as an official public meeting of the school board.

Trustee James Scudder accused members of the Town Board of turning the disagreement into “a political football.”

“We budgeted $200,000 last spring for the SROs,” Scudder said. “That number didn’t come out of midair.”

Scudder said town officials were told about the allocation during the Aug. 27 work session and in subsequent emails between the town and district attorneys. He accused unnamed Town Board members of later claiming on social media that the district had not budgeted for SROs.

Council Member Denise Merrifield made that assertion in a Sept. 10 post on her Facebook page.

“The Riverhead School District deliberately did not budget for SRO’s (School Resource Officers) in its schools,” Merrifield wrote.

She argued that using town funds for the program would be unfair to Riverhead residents who live in the Shoreham-Wading River, Eastport-South Manor and Mattituck-Cutchogue school districts and do not send children to Riverhead schools.

“I oppose any resolution utilizing town funds to pay Riverhead School District expenses,” Merrifield wrote. “I would likewise oppose any resolutions requiring the use of town funds to pay for expenses in any of the other school districts within the town. It is unfair.”

The district’s adopted budget, however, contains a $200,000 SRO allocation. The town’s adopted budget also anticipates SRO reimbursement revenue. The dispute is over whether the district’s contribution is sufficient and whether the town should pay any portion of the officers’ cost.

Scudder questioned why the district should pay the officers’ entire annual cost when their assignments in the schools primarily cover the school year.

“A police officer is a 12-month employee,” Scudder said. He argued that the officers remain town employees and are available for other police duties when school is not in session.

The expired agreement provided that the officers could be temporarily reassigned by the Police Department during school holidays and vacations and would be reassigned during summer break. It also said the district was responsible only for time worked in the SRO capacity.

Scudder said the district wants a positive relationship with the town and had remained largely silent publicly while negotiations continued.

Town board members’ behavior is ‘disgusting’: Scudder

“But to be continuously used as a political punching bag, I find disgusting,” Scudder said. “And I think their behavior is disgusting.”

Trustee Kelly Freeborn said the SRO program benefits both governments because it provides security in the schools while allowing town police officers to establish relationships with young people and their families.

“We want to let both the town and our community know that we will continue this conversation in a healthy manner, you know, face-to-face, not via social media, and we are more than willing to negotiate what is appropriate and fair for the taxpayers,” Freeborn said.

Board President Erica Murphy said the district’s research found that most nearby school districts do not pay directly for their SROs. Redmond noted that Southampton Town provides an officer at no cost to the Riverhead district for Phillips Avenue Elementary School in Riverside. Suffolk County police provide officers serving schools within the county police district.

Despite their sharp criticism, the school board members said they want negotiations to continue. The two SROs have continued working in the schools while the town and district discuss a new agreement.