GFSD Welcomes New School Resource Officer

Officer Pete Casertino has joined the GFSD as a School Resource Officer (SRO). Officer Casertino is a Warren County Sheriff’s Deputy, who will have a desk at Glens Falls Middle School but be working throughout the whole district. He will be providing additional support to current SRO John Norton; Officer Norton became the school resource officer in 2019. He has a daily presence in Glens Falls High School and Middle School, and visits all three elementary schools. 

The new position creates a new partnership between the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and Glens Falls City School District. Adding another resource officer is part of the district’s continued focus of safety and security throughout the district. 

Officer Casertino is a familiar face in the community – he is a Glens Falls PAL sports coach, and a retired Detective Lieutenant for the Glens Falls Police Department. He is also a former Glens Falls Board of Education member, and his children recently graduated from GFHS. 

Safety and security of the Glens Falls Schools has been in the forefront of the school community since the beginning of the school year – on the first day of school, the High School was put in lockout and the Middle School was put in shelter-in-place when a High School student engaged in an altercation with the school hall monitor and principal. During this time, a BB gun fell out of the student’s backpack. 

It was less than a week later that a toy replica handgun fell out of the backpack of a Middle School student… In both incidents, the Glens Falls Police Department responded and removed the student. Due to those incidents, backpack searches and increased security have been implemented.