School district talks safety post Newtown

MILLBROOK — The Millbrook Central School District (MCSD) is following suit with districts across the country in making sure its safety procedures are up-to-date and effective after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.The district has had three safety meetings already: one at Elm Drive, one at Alden Place and a combined meeting between the middle school and the high school. All were well attended with about 50 parents at each meeting. At the meetings the specifics of each individual school’s building level plans were discussed. The building level plans are not public documents, though safety committees of each building have reviewed them. The plans explain evacuations, lock downs and lockouts and the differences among them.“At the district level we have a district level plan that is a public document,” said Superintendent Philip D’Angelo. “Right now the existing document is on our website, which is a requirement of New York state. What we are doing is working on revising it, and we have taken a model from a district that I have worked with before that has had homeland security people and the state look at it. The document is approximately 50 pages, so I am in the process of working with my administration to review that.”After the district safety plan is reviewed, D’Angelo said, a representative from the New York State Police would look at it, then it would have to be approved by the Board of Education (BOE). Afterward a public meeting will be held to share the specifics of the district plan. “This stuff is a priority, but we also have other priorities that we are dealing with as well,” said D’Angelo, adding that finding the time to work on the plan and run the district can be a challenge.D’Angelo said they are dealing with details, like what the district would do if they had to evacuate every student in the district at the same time.“I talked with transportation and found out about every bus we had and what the capacities are, and we figured out which buses would go to which buildings and which students and staff would be on those to take them to off-site sheltering areas,” he said. D’Angelo said that at this point the district isn’t considering armed guards or police officers patrolling school grounds. Currently the district has a single point entrance, cameras, a buzzer system and key fobs for each main entrance.“We are really explaining to our teachers if you go outside a door, don’t prop that door open, because if we leave that door open there is access to the building,” said D’Angelo. “One of the biggest strengths of Millbrook’s plan is this is the seventh school district I have worked in, and Millbrook really walks the talk with the drills.”Millbrook has a history of running drills for evacuation, sheltering, lock downs and lockouts on an annual basis. D’Angelo said every time the district does so it finds glitches it can improve upon. “I want to be to the point where if we do need to call a lock down or do an evacuation the staff and the students are somewhat familiar with it so it’s almost automatic,” said D’Angelo. “When the fire drill rings they stop talking. They stand up, look by the door at the exit plan, and they know where to go — it’s automatic. That’s a strong point.”D’Angelo said the district website, www.millbrookcsd.org, will be a great source of updates and information regarding its safety plans as the review process continues.