School mulls safety boost

Task force offers solutions for better security.

By: Josh Appelbaum
   Cranbury School is considering ways to make its students and staff safer with several initiatives to limit access to the building and monitor visitors.
   This summer the New Jersey Anti-Terrorist and Homeland Security Task Force will inspect the school and work with school officials and police to offer solutions for greater security.
   The improvements are not mandated by state or federal authorities and School Business Administrator Brian DeLucia said the task force is an advisory body.
   However, he said school officials take security seriously. "These improvements aren’t required, but the board is really concerned with the safety of the students," he said.
   The school will reconfigure the entrance to the building and install a card access system for teachers and staff, on recommendations from the Cranbury Police Department.
   The reconfiguration of the entrance, estimated at around $20,000, is a preventative measure, according to Chief School Administrator Carol Malouf.
   "Most people are really good as far as checking in, and we haven’t had any problems so far," Ms. Malouf said. "We run security drills every year, and we are in concurrence with the police, who have said the building is a little too accessible."
   According to Ms. Malouf, these improvements likely will be in place by September.
   "In light of the world in which we live, the school needs to be a little more air tight as far as security," Ms. Malouf said.
   Ms. Malouf said the school is planning to reconfigure the main entrance to the school so visitors will enter the building through Main Office and will have to receive visitor’s passes to proceed to hallways. Currently, visitors can bypass the office and enter the hallways directly.
   The new plan will effectively lock down the school from the outside after all students have entered the building in the morning. Ms. Malouf said students will be able to exit and leave the building during fire drills and emergencies, but all exterior doors will be inaccessible from the exterior and armed with alarms.
   Staff and teachers will be allowed to enter the building only through exterior doors with authorized card access. She said the Board of Education and school administration are looking at two different providers for a card access system.
   The card system will cost approximately $31,500.
   The school also is considering installing a camera security system. Ms. Malouf said a decision on the security cameras has not been made by the district.