Holley police strengthen connections at school

Chief commends school district for security efforts

HOLLEY – If you’ve noticed more Holley Police vehicles on the campus of Holley Central School lately, there’s a good reason.

Police Chief Roland Nenni spoke to members of the School Board during their regular meeting Monday regarding his efforts to increase police presence at the school and around the village in general.

Nenni said he has had officers working days stop at both the elementary and middle school/high school buildings on a regular basis over the past few weeks to assist with “bonding with staff and students.”

He explained that the recent efforts are only the beginning of work to strengthen ties between the village police and the school district.

“We want to build bridges,” Chief Nenni told board members. “We want to build a relationship … interact with students … bridge those gaps and make a bond. I can’t thank the staff of the school enough.”

The police chief also thanked board members and commended the district for their campus security efforts. Nenni explained that he acts as commander for the county-wide SWAT team and that, “Holley is above the grade of everybody else,” he observed. “It’s phenomenal, Holley really stepped up over the need for security. I can’t commend you enough.”

Nenni serves as chief of both the Albion and Holley Police Departments and he said he sees the stepped up efforts at the school as part of building a relationship with the entire Holley community.

“It’s nice to see us doing this together,” Board President Brenda Swanger told Nenni. “It’s what we need … I’ve seen your cars around more.”

Board member John Heise agreed with Swanger. “I see the (police) cars much more, they are active around the community. It’s amazing, the change.”

Nenni took over leadership of the Holley Police force in October 2015. He said he is well acquainted with the needs of small communities and wants to respond well to residents’ concerns.

“I want to do our business better,” he said, “have our customers tell us what they are looking for. We want to serve you the best we can.”

In other business, Elementary School Principal Karri Schiavone said parents will see different looking report cards next year as the school is working to move to a standards-based report for parents.

Schiavone said the district has formed a committee that is looking at samples from other districts and working on templates. She noted Holley is behind in aligning grades to standards.

“We need to start reporting to parents on standards,” she explained. “We work with standards in the classroom and on curriculum writing … this is going to be a huge shift and an uncomfortable shift, but we need to do it.”