Security will play role in school budget

Dortenzio: Don’t panic; make upgrades in a thoughtful way

As published in the Record Journal Wednesday January 9, 2013

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD - Money for security upgrades will be included in the budget proposal School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo unveils next week, school officials confirmed Tuesday.

They would not, however, discuss specifics.

“It’s definitely going to play a role,” Board of Education Chairwoman Roxane McKay said. “But there has to be a confidential nature to what we’re talking about.”

Several security upgrades have already been approved by school officials, including installing buzzer systems at the town’s two high schools. Menzo said staff will be issued photo identification cards necessary to gain access to the schools.

Other security upgrades will be coming, but Menzo said he is still having discussions with the school board and is also waiting to hear recommendations from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s Sandy Hook Advisory Commission. The commission will present a report to the state legislature by March 15.

School board member Chet Miller said last month that proposals in Wallingford ranged from security cameras to alarm systems that would trigger if someone gained unauthorized access to a school.

McKay, Menzo, Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. and Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio were among about 850 in attendance at a symposium on school security held this week at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville. Dortenzio and McKay said presenters warned against costly, knee-jerk reactions to last month’s deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

“The legacy of Newtown should be that changes need to occur over time and be thoughtfully designed and laid out,” Dortenzio said.

But time is of the essence for school officials. Menzo will present the first draft of his proposed 2013-14 school year budget to the Board of Education on Monday. Any upgrades school officials hope to start work on this year must be included in the proposal.

McKay said including a line item in the budget for security upgrades will give school officials flexibility and won’t lock them into any particular purchases. She didn’t expect Monday’s budget presentation to go into specifics on security.

While some school districts statewide have proposed stationing a police officer or armed security guard at every school, Dortenzio said it simply isn’t practical.

“You have to keep your eye on the ball,” he said. “A school is supposed to be a learning environment. Having armed teachers, armed guards ... you’re turning it into a correction facility. That’s not the way to go.”

Since the Newtown massacre, Menzo said he has been inundated with emails from companies offering security products. School staff are working with the district’s security company, as well as parents with a law enforcement or security background, to vet the companies and make decisions about purchases.

In addition to new purchases, Menzo said, it’s important to keep up with current security protocols and make sure the climate of each of the town’s schools is one that makes students feel safe. These types of changes don’t necessarily come with a cost, Menzo said.

“There’s that social and emotional half,” he said. “It’s two layers, the technical piece and the culture and climate piece.”

Dortenzio said the safety symposium focused on things that can be done to make schools safer, not just on planning for a calamity such as what occurred in Newtown.

“There are realistic and reasonable things we can do in our district to provide further comfort and safety in the schools,” McKay said.

Dortenzio said parents shouldn’t have any reservations about sending their children to school.

“Our schools are still the safest place for kids to be during the day,” he said.

Monday’s Board of Education meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the Lyman Hall High School Vo-Ag Community Room.

Officials discuss school security

As published in the Record Journal Saturday December 29, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD - School officials held two meetings this week to discuss security measures and possible upgrades in the wake of the deadly shooting at a Newtown elementary school two weeks ago.

School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo and several Board of Education members met Friday morning with the district’s security consultant and parents who work in security and law enforcement to reassess protocols and examine alternatives.

“It was a very positive conversation,” Menzo said. “We’re exploring all the options the district should consider.”

Time is of the essence for school officials, who will submit the first draft of their 2013-14 budget next month. Menzo is planning to attend at least two more statewide school security meetings before the draft is submitted. Ideas will be ranked, with the most crucial going into the spending proposal.

Chet Miller, a Board of Education member who attended Friday’s meeting, said ideas ranged from security cameras to alarm systems that would trigger if someone gained unauthorized access to a school.The elementary and middle schools already have a buzzer system that requires front office staff to unlock the doors for visitors. The systems are being installed soon at the two high schools.

Miller said all the security in the world may not be able to stop a determined perpetrator, but “certainly we want to do what is practical and possible to protect our kids as best as we can.”

Menzo said administrators also met with police and fire officials on Wednesday to discuss how the departments respond to a school emergency. Principals were also reminded of security procedures.

Miller said people are usually on edge following a tragedy like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but it’s important that security protocols continue to be followed in the weeks and months ahead.

“People tend to relax, memories fade ... we can’t let that happen,” he said. “We need to constantly be sure everybody is on the same page.”

School board member Kathy Castelli also attended Friday’s meeting and said she was pleased to hear from residents with expertise in the security field.

“Security and safety of children is the most important facet of what we do,” she said.

Castelli said she was still digesting the information presented at the Friday meeting.
“We need to explore what makes sense,” she said.

Though added security measures are being discussed, Castelli said it’s important to protect students and without unduly frightening them.

Wallingford Response Updated Sunday 12/16/2012 - Salvatore F. Menzo, Ed.D. Superintendent Wallingford Public Schools

As posted on Sunday December 16, 2012
http://www.wallingford.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=13612

Dear Wallingford Parents Guardians and Community Members:

Yesterday, I met with parents regarding the Wallingford Public School’s response to the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. The common concern shared was with the overall safety and compliance to procedures as visitors enter our buildings each day. The greatest takeaway for me from this meeting was the need to enforce a consistent approach to visitor procedures across the district. Additional safety recommendations were made that I will share with the Board of Education over the course of the next few weeks.

As a result of the meeting, I would like to take this opportunity to remind all of our families that we have a plan in place at each of our schools to handle emergency situations. We work with the Wallingford police and fire departments to prepare for these types of emergencies and regularly practice our safety procedures with students and staff through discussions and emergency exercises. While no amount of planning can guarantee that a tragedy such as this will not occur, we are doing everything we know to keep students and staff safe while at school.

It is imperative that parents assist us in enforcing our front office procedures when arriving on campus. Use front entrances only when visiting school. At the elementary and middle schools, use the buzzer system. Provide the clerk with your name and specific reason for visiting the school. Hold up your picture ID to the camera for verification. Upon entering the building, and check into the office immediately to receive a visitors badge. Do not forget to check out at the main office when leaving. At the high schools, check in with the greeter at the front entrance. Provide name, reason for visit, and identification. Receive a visitors badge and return to the greeter at the end of your visit to ensure we know you have left the building.

We require media, vendors, and delivery drivers to check in as well. Minor exits and entrances are locked throughout the day and should not be propped open by staff or parents for any reason. These are just a few of the procedures we must enforce to help ensure we know who is on campus at all times. Certainly in this day and age we can never be absolutely protected against all circumstances, but we do train our staff and rely on our parents to helps us ensure we enforce our own procedures. We also conduct safety drills and debriefings with local first responders regularly.

As we return to school this week, it is equally important for us to work with our staff and ensure they are prepared to support their students in difficult times. Staff is receiving information to ensure that they have the resources they will need to respond to student questions this week. We will also have our counselors and administrators ready on Monday morning to respond to students as needed.

Informational tips from the National Association of School Psychologists about what parents can do at a time like this are available on our website by clicking here. This is the approach that will be used with staff in the event the topic should arise in class this week. We are not holding special lessons or discussions on the tragedy unless the teacher feels the class needs to have that time to process.

As we all continue to remember the families and staff impacted by the events in Newtown, we must also to try to maintain focus on the sense of community that exists in Wallingford. Please know we will do all that we can to ensure the safety of our students and staff, and with your help we are confident we can do that. In doing so, we must all trust each other and help each other through this difficult time. In a collaborative spirit, we will grow as a community and district as a result of these tragic events.

Sincerely,

Salvatore F. Menzo, Ed.D.

Superintendent

 

Keep your eyes open, superintendent tells Wallingford parents at meeting on safety

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.”