I n the wake of the Dec. 14 shooting in which 26 people were killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., administrators in the Freehold Regional High School District are examining what can be done to improve security in the district’s six high schools.
“It is a difficult position for a school building to walk a fine line between security and serving the educational purposes of what those institutions represent in America,” Superintendent of Schools Charles Sampson said at the Jan. 7 meeting of the FRHSD Board of Education. “We are attempting to walk that line …” Sampson described some changes that district administrators hope will further protect FRHSD students.
Officials plan to install a buzzer system at the front entrance and delivery areas of each school, Sampson said. He said cameras and security personnel will also monitor those areas.
Administrators will analyze how each building uses its staff of security officers to most effectively make use of those individuals, the superintendent said.
Most of the district’s security force is made up of retired police officers, he added.
FRHSD officials completed a school safety and security plan in November 2012 (one month before the Newtown killings) that went over many of the issues now at the forefront of conversations in school districts across the nation, Sampson said.
That report touched upon the strength of the district’s infrastructure and what upgrades can be made, he said. State-mandated drills and how to deploy teachers (when not teaching a class) to properly watch a school also came up, Sampson said.
Employees have inspected the cameras that monitor activities in district facilities, Sampson said. There are between 48 and 60 cameras in each high school, he said.
District administrators will work with local police departments in their efforts to prevent a tragedy, the superintendent said.
“Our principals have been in constant contact with the local authorities about … next steps for the school district,” Sampson said. “It was very important for us when we came together as an administrative team to look at what we were doing in terms of security, to be very careful to focus on a lot of the good work that had already been under way … and not to jump to any knee-jerk reactions without really fully vetting those reactions.”
— Jack Murtha