SOUTH BRUNSWICK: Superintendent: ‘Our schools are safe’

By Ed Birch, Special Writer
   District officials tried to reassure parents this week that local schools are safe following the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that killed six adults and 20 first grade students.
   ”Our schools are safe,” Superintendent Dr. Gary McCartney said during Monday night’s Board of Education meeting.
   According to Lt. Paul Vance, spokesman for the Connecticut State Police, a lone gunman identified as Adam Lanza, shot his way into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown last Friday morning around 9:30 a.m. and killed 26 people before turning a weapon on himself.
   ”We recognize the events of Newtown, Connecticut with great significance,” Dr. McCartney said.
   He said he felt that it was his duty as the chief executive of the school system to make an attempt to assure local residents and students of security measures that are present at all school locations.
   Dr. McCartney said that the district has worked closely with local police to develop plans and drills for each school in the district that would prepare them, as best they can, for a variety of events including “an active shooter.”
   Dr. McCartney told the approximate 250 people assembled at the meeting that each school location has a binder with the “District Safety and Security Plan” that is an approximate five-inch thick loose-leaf volume.
   The manual has been designed in consultation with the South Brunswick Police Department, Emergency Medical Services, and the local Health Department, Dr. McCartney said.
   He said that each district employee, in every school building, gets a copy of the updated procedures and that each building routinely conducts drills to prepare for various scenarios.
   ”The district is positioned very well,” Dr. McCartney said.
   In addition, Dr. McCartney the district is completing an Incident Command Training Session, coordinated by Lt. James Kinard of the police department.
   Dr. McCartney said each school principal is responsible for supervising monthly drills preparing building staff and students with “full phase of security plans including fire drill practices, lock down, shooter and bomb threat training.”
   He said an emphasis is always placed on getting everyone participating to realize that “what might seem as practice today could very well be the real thing on a future exercise.”
   Among the security systems in place are locked doors, ID card systems with pictures of staff and students, and microphones in every location.
   He also said that the district is working to get digital copies of each building layout that could be sent to each car responding to any of the schools to help arriving officers navigate the buildings and determine exactly where in the facilities an incident may be taking place.
   He also said each building has a very active Crisis Response Team that also goes through specialized training for any crisis.
   Teams of district employees constantly meet with the South Brunswick Police Department, and special events such as Halloween parades and student dances, always draw a police presence to ensure onlookers that they are under observation at all times.
   ”Your safety is always being protected inside the building as doors are locked from the inside of each classroom,” Dr. McCartney said. “If there is something else that we can do better, we will consider that too.”
   McCartney reported that school shootings can happen anywhere, but take place “in much less than 1-percent of school locations nationally.
   ”I do believe that we have taken all steps to make our schools safe,” Dr. McCartney said.
   He also said a further informational memo reinforcing all security procedures has been sent by him to all school principals for discussions with their respective staff members.
   ”The entire Board of Education takes the issue of school safety very seriously,” Board President Stephen Parker said.
   Board member and Retired South Brunswick Police Captain Harry Delgado said that he believes that the district has a good security model set up, and that the New Jersey School Boards Association is considering using the district’s plan as a training model for other school districts in the state.