Police Urge Parents To Monitor

Students’ After-School Activity 

By Andrew Gorosko

The police department’s school resource officer at Newtown Middle School is urging the parents of students there to be mindful of their children’s activities after school, noting that a number of the youths have gotten themselves into trouble at nearby businesses at the end of the school day.

Police Officer Gladys Pisani planned to send home with students on May 4 a letter to their parents describing the problems.

Ms Pisani said this week she hopes that the parents of the seventh and eight graders at the middle school make an effort to better monitor their children’s activities following school.

Besides the letter to parents, Officer Pisani’s concerns will be posted on the school’s website and published in the school newspaper.

A recent police report illustrates the nature of the problem.

Midafternoon on April 12, police responded to a disturbance reported at the Big Y supermarket in Newtown Shopping Village at 6 Queen Street.

Police said a youth under age 16 threw a chair at a Big Y employee inside the supermarket. When police approached, the youth ran off. Police later located and arrested the youth on charges of second-degree breach of peace and interfering with police.

After processing, police released the youth to a parent for a scheduled appearance in Danbury Juvenile Court. The identities of people under age 18 who are charged with crimes are shielded by state law.

“Many students from the Newtown Middle School are hanging out after school at the Newtown Shopping Center,” Officer Pisani said. The shopping center holds the Big Y supermarket and many other businesses.

“Many of the students are there for several hours while they wait for parents or other rides…Problems ranging from littering, vandalism; intimidation of customers [is] occurring,” she said.

Officer Pisani said that the presence of youths gathering at the shopping center has been a longstanding issue, adding that she wants parents to keep tabs on their children’s whereabouts following school.

“Our number one concern is the safety of your children and the community of Newtown,” she said.

Officer Pisani said that she was shopping after work at the Big Y supermarket on April 12. She said she spotted about 40 very loud students from the middle school who were in the supermarket’s food court.

After she completed her shopping, Officer Pisani noted that the food court was empty. She saw a store worker photographing the aftermath of the students’ activity at the food court.

“I was horrified at what I observed. The food court area was left in extreme disarray. I observed food and trash left on the tables and floor, and the furniture was left in chaos,” she said.

Officer Pisani then identified herself to store personnel as the town police officer who works at the middle school.

Big Y staffers explained to her that the store was having problems due to students’ behavior there after school, especially on Thursdays and Fridays, she said.

“The students are being loud, obnoxious, [and] foul-mouthed in the presence of other patrons and disrespectful to the workers,” she said.

Officer Pisani noted that on April 12, the unidentified student offender, who later was arrested by police, had thrown a chair at a Big Y worker.   

“I was embarrassed by the behavior of those [40] students on that day,” said Officer Pisani, who has worked as the school resource officer at the middle school for the past seven years.

Officer Pisani urges that parents who have comments on the problems, or who have suggestions on how best to deal with the problems, to contact her at 270-4238.