Siege in Russia
causes newfound
terrorism concern
BY LARRY RAMER
Staff Writer
Administrators of the Marlboro K-8 school district are taking additional security precautions after being told by the county prosecutor that schools could be a potential target of terrorists.
Superintendent of Schools David Abbott was among a group of top school administrators from throughout Mon-mouth County who met with Prosecutor John Kaye in September. The superintendents heard Kaye tell them to review and revise their security plans.
In the wake of a recent siege by terrorists of a school in Beslan, Russia, law enforcement authorities are stepping up their focus on schools in the United States, Kaye said during an Oct. 8 press conference in Freehold. More than 300 people, including hundreds of children, were killed during that three-day siege and hostage situation in Russia.
“The prosecutor indicated to us that they have information … that terrorists are interested in schools as a target,” Abbott told Board of Education members at a meeting last week. “The school in Russia was targeted many months ahead [of the attack]. The attack in Russia has become the new benchmark schools look at for terrorist activity.”
Kaye noted in his remarks to the media last week that people posing as contractors smuggled weapons and munitions into the school in Beslan. When the terrorists arrived to carry out the attack, the weapons and munitions were waiting for them.
Monmouth County school administrators and contracting firms are now being asked to carefully check the background of all people (i.e. subcontractors and their employees) who are assigned to work in schools, Kaye said.
Meanwhile, a federal official has said there is no specific threat to an American school.
“There is no specific information indicating that there is a terrorist threat to any schools or universities in the United States,” Deputy Education Secretary Eugene Hickock wrote in a letter to schools and education groups.
In any event, Marlboro administrators have acted to tighten security at schools, Abbott reported.
In addition to locking the doors of schools, the district has provided each administrator and teacher with a manual listing safety guidelines, the superintendent said. The manual is organized in a Rolodex, or “waterfall” format, with subject matter separated by tabs. This format enables administrators and teachers to quickly access the information.
Other security measures are being examined, Abbott said, adding that he would make recommendations to the board in the near future on how to better protect schools after all students have left the building.
“We have to make sure the buildings are not opened in the evening,” he said.
At some schools, employees have installed wooden barricades in an attempt to prevent vehicles from approaching the buildings. However, it is impossible to block off the entrances at some of the buildings because of the way they are built, the superintendent explained.
Abbott said the district cannot comply with a suggestion by the state commissioner of education to place cement barriers in front of the schools.
“I can’t do that because I need to get buses in and out, and you can’t move [cement barriers],” Abbott said.