School safety discussed in wake of tragedy

WINSTED — A small group of parents gathered with members of the Winchester Board of Education Monday night for a special meeting on school safety, in light of the shooting rampage that occurred Friday, Dec. 14, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.Billed as an informational meeting and held in the Batcheller Elementary School auditorium, the meeting was announced on the town’s reverse-911 emergency call system and on Facebook to give parents and community members a chance to review and comment on the Winchester school district’s emergency preparedness. Last week’s shooting weighed heavily on the minds of concerned parents who expressed worries about potential security weaknesses at the town’s public school buildings. As details of the massacre, in which a gunman killed 26 people at the school including 20 first-graders, were released, community members voiced their concerns that a similar event could have happened in any community, including their own.As funerals were held Monday for the first two of the 20 children killed in Newtown, Winchester Superintendent Thomas Danehy said he called Monday’s meeting to address short- and long-term security goals, adding that he expected some directives to eventually be handed down by federal and state officials. “Right now it seems as though this issue is particularly raw, and I’m sure it will take up a lot of the state Legislature’s time as they meet in the spring. It will evolve into things that we have to comply with, which will actually be a good thing,” he said.Danehy acknowledged the Winchester school district has “a number of weaknesses” related to security but added that he didn’t think the issues were different than those in most school districts across the country, which face continuous challenges keeping children safe.Danehy said an immediate security response to the Newtown shooting has been to hire a substitute teacher to be stationed at the front doorway of each school as a precautionary measure. He said he is considering instituting a badge or ID system for teachers and is recommending all visitors be strictly required to sign in at the schools. Sign-ins have historically been required at the schools but not strongly enforced.“If you go to a hospital you have to show your ID. You really can’t get around anywhere without being checked, and I think, ‘Why don’t we do that?’” Danehy said. “Not that it’s going to stop anybody who has the sort of weapons they showed Friday, but I think it’s important for security to have established procedures.”Danehy said he also wants to implement a “black box” system in which detailed plans and emergency information would be locked in a box attached to the outside of each school. First responders would have a key to the box and be able to access and distribute vital information in the event of an emergency.Winsted Fire Police Captain John Sessa told fellow community members that he had visited Newtown over the weekend to assist with traffic duties. He offered suggestions for enhanced security at the schools, including a keyless entry system for teachers and bullet-proof glass at school entrances. Parent Lisa Steeves said she believes there are significant security problems at the schools and encouraged community members to get involved in coming up with solutions. “We are seriously at a point in so many areas of this town that we can’t ignore this any more. This is something that affects our whole community. This affected a whole nation — a whole world. We’ve got to work together.”Batcheller and Hinsdale elementary schools Principal Clay Krevolin reached out to parents and said he is available to discuss concerns about security, particularly among children. “If children are voicing concerns about coming to school, I would hope that parents would contact the schools, preferably the principals, and let us try to work through that.”Krevolin said one of his first-graders had been apprehensive about coming to school Monday and that he walked the boy around the school, showing him door locks and leading him to the front office, where he showed the child how people need to be buzzed in at the front entrance. “He had a smile on his face and he was able to feel a lot more comfortable,” Krevolin said.The principal added that children have varying degrees of knowledge about the Newtown shooting, based on how much time they’ve spent watching TV and whether or not they have older siblings.Krevolin said teachers went out of their way to adjust their lesson plans in the wake of the Newtown tragedy and said he was proud of them for their efforts. “There is a degree of sensibility, responsibility and pride that I saw of our professional staff today,” he said. “I know everybody was really touched by this. I’m very proud of them. Everybody stepped up to the plate with plans and did all they could to try to make the buildings as safe as they can be.”Danehy said Monday’s meeting was just the first step in what will be an ongoing process of improving school security. Ideas discussed this week will be shared with the full school board and will likely result in the implementation of new directives in the coming calendar year. The next regular Board of Education meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, at Town Hall.