Seaford Students can report tips anonymously

Seaford Pubic schools will launch a new student safety system in September, becoming one of three districts in Nassau County to implement the program, which offers anonymous two-way communication between students and staff.

This online tool — the Anonymous Alerts app — will be available in all Seaford school buildings, according to the district’s press office.

Seaford students will have an outlet by which to quickly and anonymously report “suspicious behavior, bullying, mental health concerns, drug use and dealing, campus safety threats and more directly to school officials, who can take quick action,” according to the company that offers the system.

Seaford Superintendent Dr. Adele Pecora said, “We strive to provide a positive, safe and enriched learning environment for all of our students. By implementing Anonymous Alerts, we are providing our school community a confidential opportunity to report incidents.’

Pecora said that a letter would be sent to the community before the start of the school year that would detail the capabilities of Anonymous Alerts.

But Jill Billing-Marcus, a Seaford resident and mother of two, said she believed the Anonymous Alerts reporting system is not adequate.

“The only way there’s accountability with an anonymous reporting system is if it’s three-tier, which means the calls and texts that come in get routed to trained operators, who triage them, school administrators and the police department,” Billing-Marcus said. “If there’s only one tier, it’s ineffective. Seaford chose a one-tier anonymous reporting system with a direct link to school administrators. Currently it’s unknown if it would be 24/7 . . . Anything less [than a three-tier triage system] is a Band-Aid.”

Billing-Marcus, who said she spent 25 years in the human services industry, said she was unclear whether professionals trained to handle emergencies would receive and respond to tips that come in to Seaford schools.

She added that she has been urging the Seaford superintendent to consider a free three-tier system developed by the Sandy Hook Promise community, in response to the 2012 shooting there. She added that there have been articles in education journals that demonstrate the effectiveness of the three-tier system.

Meanwhile, the Wantagh school superintendent, John McNamara, said that district uses a tool called Sprigeo for anonymous reporting at its middle school. The district’s website already allows people to send tips anonymously. It was unclear when the Sprigeo system was implemented.

The Seaford Board of Education voted to launch the Anonymous Alerts web-based reporting app at its Aug. 15 meeting. The board had approved the purchase of the system in April.

The new initiatives come amid a flurry of school safety enhancements adopted by Seaford, Wantagh and surrounding school districts after the mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February, including entryway identification systems, increased security guard staffing and upgraded emergency response plans.

According to information on the Anonymous Alerts website, Seaford students, parents and staff will be able to download the free Anonymous Alerts app — available on Apple, Android and Chromebook devices. An activation code will be provided by Seaford schools that will allow members of the community to access the reporting system. In addition, students and parents can send a web-based report by clicking the Anonymous Alerts web-button on the district website. The web-form is available in English, Spanish and a dozen other languages. 

Monitoring hours for the system are expected to be during school days between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The reporting app also includes a “helpful links and resources” section that contains information about topics such as cyber-bullying, social and emotional learning, self-harm prevention and mental health. 

“We are excited to be working with Seaford . . . [this] will provide students with an outlet to use their voice and securely discuss concerns such as bullying, harmful behaviors, safety threats and more directly with school officials,” said T. Gregory Bender, who founded the White Plains-based Anonymous Alerts LLC in 2012.

He added that the only other Nassau schools to sign up for the system so far are Westbury and Freeport. Nationwide, the company has partnered with about 5,000 schools, he said.

Freeport School Superintendent Dr. Kishore Kuncham said the district implemented the Anonymous Alerts system at the end of last semester.

“It’s a start,” Kuncham said, “but it’s an avenue for students to express themselves.”

He said students have used the application to report fights and other incidents, but have also used it to report concerns of other depressed students or share their own personal depression.

Nadya Nataly contributed to this story.