As published in the Record Journal, Sunday December 16, 2012
Mary Ellen Godin
Record-Journal staff
mgodin@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2255
Twitter:@CConnBiz
WALLINGFORD — After nearly every horrific mass shooting, it turns out that there were warning signs left behind somewhere, Wallingford School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo told a group of parents Saturday morning. As police pored through clues Saturday as to what led 20-year-old Adam Lanza to shoot and kill 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook School Friday, Menzo and other school officials asked parents to keep their eyes open and report concerns to school and public officials.
“The saying ‘If you see something, say something’ — there is something to that,” Menzo said. “Somebody had an inkling this was going to happen. Don’t be ashamed to bring it to somebody’s attention. We need to count on all of you to give us this information.”
But calling on the community to report disturbing behavior or speech is only one way to bolster student safety and prevent copycat incidents at the town’s 13 school buildings, Menzo said.
The schools are also ready to revamp and harden policies, he said, but not to engage in knee-jerk reactions that will go strong for a few months before falling by the wayside when complacency sets in.
Schools are targets because weapons aren’t allowed, and that presents a challenge, Menzo said. And there are no measures that can guarantee 100 percent protection. But he also reminded parents that school shootings are rare.
Menzo hosted the morning forum to hear parents’ concerns after Friday’s massacre. About a dozen of the 50 parents who attended the event in the Sheehan High School auditorium were worried that the schools are too easy to enter and that there is resistance to the potential cost of heightened security.
“I can’t put a price on my kids’ safety,” said Sean Neeman, a father of two daughters. “What can we do to support you guys? It’s going to come down to someone saying we can’t find the money in the budget. I don’t want to hear that.”
Neeman said that when he walks his daughter to Rock Hill School, the doors are unlocked.
“Anyone can walk in,” he said. “Until yesterday, it didn’t bother me.”
Parents complained that too many people are being buzzed into schools without proper identification. Parents said they are able to get into the schools even after the first bell rings and the school is supposed to be locked. Menzo said the principals would make changes and review buzzer protocol, but parents needed to understand and not be offended when asked for identification.
Other suggestions included school cameras that could be monitored in one spot by a police officer, an armed but not uniformed officer in each school and a buzzer system in the two high schools. There are now greeters at Lyman Hall and Sheehan high schools. One parent, who is also a bus driver, brought up the issue of bus safety and how it might be improved.
Security during after-school activities will also have to be scrutinized, Menzo said.
He said the schools and the town would need to get local lawmakers on board to support legislation to fund increased school security, but in light of Friday’s shootings, he didn’t anticipate much opposition.
Menzo told the parents that he was notified of the Newtown shooting at about 10:45 a.m. Friday by Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio. He immediately called the principals, who double-checked locks on all doors at their schools. Because the shooting happened more than an hour away from the town, instruction resumed as normal and teachers did not discuss the incident in their classrooms.
At about 2 p.m., Menzo participated in a conference call with eight other superintendents in central Connecticut to discuss policies and practices. They agreed to work with their local police departments to increase patrols. Later that afternoon, parents were notified by the school’s telephone and email system of what had happened and that there would be an increased police presence on Monday.
Menzo said information on how to talk about the Newtown event would appear on the district’s website. Parents can read age-appropriate tips on how to discuss the incident with their children, but the Newtown incident won’t be talked about in class unless it’s raised by students, Menzo said.
School board member Chet Miller and Town Councilor Jason Zandri also attended the event.
“We need to step things up and maintain policies,” Zandri said. “You have to be consistently vigilant. This could have been at a Chuck E. Cheese. Parents need to know certain things are going to cost, and we need to learn how we’re going to pay for them.”
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