Beefed-up
security to greet students across state
Teams were ordered to conduct
70-point inspections of 3,400 schools
Monday, September 05, 2005 • BY JOHN MOONEY •
Star-Ledger Staff
At Nutley High School, there is a phone
in every classroom so teachers may call for help or police
may call a classroom. All entrances are constantly watched
to see who comes and goes.
Despite these measures, principal Gregory
Catrambone said he was surprised to find after a survey of
his school by local police that there were still other ways
to tighten security.
So when school opens Wednesday,
Catrambone said he likely will lock all but one of the
doors. Penalties also will increase for students who fail to
wear identification badges.
"We're turning it up a couple of
notches," he said. "The first will still be a warning, but
the second offense will be detention. A third will be
suspension."
On the eve of the school year, Catrambone
is one of many New Jersey school officials fine-tuning
security.
The inspection of 3,400 schools was
ordered by acting Gov. Richard Codey, who demanded the
statewide sweep after the terrorist attack in Russia last
year. Later, in his State of the State address earlier this
year, he said every school would be surveyed by the start of
school this fall.
For the most part, officials said, his
promise has been kept.
"I can't say we're 100 percent, but we
are darn close to it," said Dennis Quinn, an assistant to
state Attorney General Peter Harvey, who coordinated much of
the program. "We have visited 3,000 schools, and that's
unprecedented. If a school hasn't been done, they will be
soon."
The surveys were conducted by a team of
school and law enforcement officials trained by the State
Police.
With a checklist of more than 70 items,
officials walked school buildings to check evacuation and
visitor policies, how buses are stored and inspected, access
to ventilation systems and even outdoor landscaping to
eliminate easy hiding places.
Each school poses a challenge and has
different policies.
The campus-like setting of Hanover Park
High School is "extremely problematic," according to
Superintendent John W. Adamus, because it has doors leading
outside in virtually every classroom.
At schools in Chatham, visitors have to
sign in and all entrances are secured. This year, teachers
will be required to wear identification badges.
"We have our own audits," said Chatham
Superintendent James O'Neill. "It is necessary more now to
have our buildings up to our standards."
Nevertheless, he said, the state's audit
was useful in formalizing the process and making it
consistent statewide.
"If (the state) comes out with the most
important things schools should take to ensure the safety of
the student, then I think this tool would have value,"
O'Neill said. "But if (the information) just sits there, I'm
sure it doesn't accomplish anything."
Other educators also said they were
waiting for feedback.
"That was a question all superintendents
had when this initiative was first introduced," Rahway
Superintendent William Petrino said. "We have no problem as
a group responding to this type of survey, but would
appreciate getting the feedback in a way that's
useful."
The next step will be for all of the
school's data to be entered online. From there, it will
analyzed by the state Department of Education, which could
develop policies and training.
"What we want to concentrate on is
bringing some consistency to what we are doing," said Susan
Martz, a state education director who oversees school safety
policies. "We want to be sure that it's not just on paper,
but on a regular basis they are looking at these
things."
Bedminster Police Lt. Patrick Ussery
conducted the district's audit of its elementary school this
summer and said he was pleasantly surprised by what he
found.
"When I first looked at the checklist, I
wondered how many they would be able to answer," he said. "I
was surprised that they could answer positively to most of
the questions."
Ussery acknowledged that there is no way
to guarantee protection at schools.
"You can't bulletproof the world, but
this checklist goes a long way to doing what we can," he
said.
Star-Ledger reporters Jennifer Golson, Bev McCarron and
Lisa Vernon Sparks contributed to this article.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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