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The board of education voted not to renew an agreement with the Asbury Park Police Department, but state fiscal monitor Lester Richens has said he may overturn their decision.

The board agreed last year to pay the police department $75,000 per year to patrol the area around the Asbury Park Middle School. But some board members feel police presence in that area hasn’t been satisfactory.

“We’ve had violence,” BOE vice president Geneva Smallwood said. “The staff is afraid to be there. We haven’t had any reports back [from police] and I have to say, I live in the neighborhood and after June, I didn’t see anyone walking around anymore. We pay for the police to be up and down that corridor and I expect them to be there year round.”

The board did ask for periodic reports form the police department, board president Angela Ahbez-Anderson said. Superintendent Denise Lowe has met with a police department sergeant, Ahbez-Anderson said, but “the board needs to see a report.”

The vote on the issue ended in a tie, and Richens then told the board he’d review their decision. He will arrange a meeting with Lowe, as well as Police Chief Mark Kinmon, before making a decision, he said.

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[Pictured above, from left, at a previous meeting: Superintendent Denise Lowe, board attorney Michael Gross, board president Angela Ahbez-Anderson, board vice president Geneva Smallwood and board member Gregory Hopson.]

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