BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer
Little Silver police have agreed to provide security at Point Road School while construction is under way there, after a parent raised concerns about the safety of students.
At the borough district Board of Education meeting last week, concerns about school security were the topic of discussion among parents and board members.
Edward Carrano, parent of two students at Point Road School, said that because of the construction still in progress at the school, he has concerns about several issues regarding the safety of his children.
“I was dropping off my kindergartner at the second session,” he said, “and the outside door was wide open, with only a fourth-grader keeping the kids from wandering back outside.”
Superintendent Dr. Marjorie Heller addressed his concerns, saying that the safety of the students has always been of paramount importance to the district.
Heller said that only one door to the school is able to be opened from the outside during school hours and that someone is sitting in the hall to check visitors in and out of the school.
Carrano responded that he has seen only an elderly woman doing that job, and he doesn’t believe that in the case of an emergency she would be able to get help quickly, since there is no way for her to communicate with the main office.
Heller said that the construction on the main entrance will be finished by the end of the calendar year, and at that time there will be a buzzer system in place, so all visitors will have to be buzzed into the school through that one entrance.
“But what do we do on Monday?” asked Carrano. “What do we do between then and now?”
Carrano said his main concern is the possibility that a stranger could wander around the school unsupervised. He said he has seen construction workers walking freely in the hallways, and smoking outside of the kindergarten classrooms, without wearing any sort of tag identifying themselves as workers.
“All it takes is one person to walk into a classroom,” said Carrano, “ and we could have a mini-Russia on our hands.”
Heller said all of the workers are supposed to wear identification at all times on school property, and that smoking on school property is not permitted. She promised to speak with the project manager about these problems.
Carrano asked Heller to contact a security company or the Little Silver Police Department about posting a professional at the temporary entrance until the new security system is in place.
On Thursday, Heller did call the Little Silver Police and said the department has agreed to post an officer at the school, starting Monday, Nov. 22, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., when children are in school.
Heller said there will be one police officer assigned, and that the rate of pay has yet to be established.
Although Heller agreed with many of the points being raised about security, she warned against the dangers of being overly cautious.
“As someone who has lived in this town for 25 years, and who has been an administrator in this district for 15 years,” she said, “and someone whose children went to these schools, we have always enjoyed an openness in this town, where parents could follow their children into the schools to help carry science projects.
“Parents in this town are used to being able to just drop by the school and speak to teachers. Maybe it is time to change, because the world has changed.”