By Keith Heumiller
The Middletown Independent
Middletown school officials, police and parents are working together to heighten security in the district’s 17 schools in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., and the numerous school and campus shootings that have occurred throughout the country since.
Middletown Public School District Superintendent William George III joined township police officers and administrators from the township elementary, middle and high schools last week at the Monmouth County Police Academy in Freehold for a school-security workshop conducted by the FBI.
The goal, George said, is to improve communication between schools, administration and police, and firmly establish response and prevention procedures at all levels of every school.
“Obviously, this is a big concern for our parents, staff, students - everyone in the school community,” he said.
“We are doing everything we can to look at this from different perspectives, getting feedback and working collaboratively to continually update our plan on an ongoing basis.”
Last week’s workshop addressed topics such as school violence, active-shooter response procedures and precautionary steps the district and township police can take to identify threats and prevent them from becoming something more serious.
“We looked at profiles, recent cases where schools had averted tragedy. The key there is the communication between students - what students know - and parents, schools, the community at large. It’s about making sure there are protocols for communication and information sharing between schools and police as well.”
To help foster that community-wide communication, George said staff representatives from every building and other school officials meet quarterly to review security procedures and ensure that everyone follows the same standards. School officials also meet twice a year to review the district’s official safety plan and regularly update practices and policies to incorporate new information or suggestions from the school community.
“We involve everyone - from administrators to secretaries to school nurse personnel, teaching staff, facilities, custodial - so that we are all on the same page,” George said.
There is still a visible police presence in and around Middletown schools, which began after the Dec. 14 Newtown, Conn., attack and has continued through ensuing school shootings in California, Missouri, Kentucky, Texas and Georgia.
While there is an increased presence before and after school and during lunch periods, George said, township officers routinely patrol the schools throughout the day at unspecified times as well.
“Some of it is visible, and some of it is not. That is by design,” he said.
Lt. John Maguire, who, along with Middletown Police Chief Robert Oches and a number of other officers has been working collaboratively with the district on its security initiatives, recently recorded a training video for school personnel regarding emergency situations, school violence and lock-down procedures, which George said will - foster an up-todate, unified response strategy in every district school.
Mary Ellen Walker, director of operations for the district, said schools are now conducting regular security drills in addition to their monthly fire drills, in accordance with state mandates.
“The schools last year were kind of doing whatever they wanted, and it was hard to keep track of whether they were doing it right,” said Walker at the Jan. 23 Board of Education workshop meeting.
“So this year I tell them, January is lock-down month and they all have to do a lock-down drill this month. It’s a much more consistent process.”
Following concerns raised by board member Christopher
Aveta and one parent, who said some children had been upset by the unannounced drills, Walker and George explained that the times and dates of drills, along with specific information concerning a number of other safety measures, could not be made public for safety reasons.
“It is very important for everyone to understand,” George said in a Feb. 4 interview, “if we were to share the changes we are making to our facilities, or our plan, or any of those details, we would be compromising the integrity of the plan for anyone who meant harm. It is very important those conversations stay confidential.”
At the board meeting, Walker and George said school officials could announce via the website that a drill had taken place so parents could talk to their children about it and explain why it had to be done.
Other changes being addressed in the district include implementing an ID system so that every nonstudent in a school can be identified immediately, and ensuring that all school staff, including substitute teachers, are sufficiently trained in the school’s safety and security procedures.
Board member and district facilities committee member James Cody said at the Jan. 30 meeting that township police and emergency-management officials have conducted walk-throughs of the district’s 17 schools and submitted suggestions to the committee.
The suggested improvements include upgrades to door locks, “buzzing” procedures and school camera systems, which Cody said could utilize new technology and actually allow township police to log in and view a school’s video feed in real time during an emergency situation.
Other pending changes cannot be discussed publicly, he added, for security reasons.
“There are a lot of things that we are going over. It’s very, very important to us to continue to follow through on this.”
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