Safety a priority in secondary schools

School safety has garnered heightened attention since the tragic events at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. in December. At the Valley Stream Central High School District, administrators and board members are also taking additional measures to make sure their system runs efficiently and smoothly.

Following its Jan. 5 meeting, the board asked Superintendent Dr. Bill Heidenreich to contact safety professionals to assess the district’s security. In late January, representatives from the Nassau County Police Department and Nassau BOCES toured the district’s four schools to complete a safety checklist.

The checklist is composed of more than 200 “yes” or “no” statements — the more checkmarks in the “yes” category, the better. Heidenreich said each of the four schools scored well and results from the audit are still coming in. He plans on discussing the results with the board at its April committee meeting.

According to Heidenreich, Central High School was deemed a model site by the professionals on the tour because of security practices already in place.

Each of the schools has four supervisory aides, many of whom are retired law enforcement officials, Heidenreich said. During the school day, the aides walk the perimeters of their respective buildings and pull on doors to make sure no one has propped them open, which would jeopardize the building’s security. The district also has a contract with a security company to watch the buildings from the late afternoon until 11 p.m. each night, when the custodial shifts end.

The four schools each have a single point of entry during school hours where visitors are asked to sign in, wear a name tag and state their business in the building.

Heidenreich noted that members of the public attend events and meetings at the schools on a regular basis, so there is a constant need for security. “We want to be able to take the steps needed to demonstrate that if there’s something we can do to better secure our buildings, we’ve done it,” he said.

The district also upgraded its security camera system about three years ago to a digital format. Now, building principals and select administrators can view what’s going on outside of the schools 24 hours a day. There are currently 47 cameras recording around the clock in the district and the footage is kept for three weeks to a month. If an incident occurs outside on school grounds, officials can see what transpired.

Heidenreich is also planning to discuss granting the Nassau County Police Department access to the district’s security camera footage if the police are called to an incident at a school so their response could be more efficient.

Teachers and administrators wear I.D. badges so it’s known they belong in the building and also to access certain doors. Students carry identification at all times, although they are not required to wear them.

There are district-wide evacuation drills that are practiced each year, in addition to lock out — if a threat is outside the building — and lock down — if a threat is inside the building — drills at each school.