Schools will get security
checkups
Police to test each building's compliance
with state safety directives
Tuesday, March 01, 2005 • BY JOHN MOONEY •
Star-Ledger Staff
New Jersey schools will soon get new lessons in
anti-terrorist tactics, computerized surveillance, and other
strategies that would make them so-called "hardened
targets."
Acting Gov. Richard Codey announced in January that he
would ensure every school in the state is protected against
the possibility of terrorist attack, citing last summer's
assault on an elementary school in Russia that led to the
deaths of more than 300 children and adults.
His plan is now starting to take shape, as the initial
training is under way, checklists are being developed, and
the first of the security checks that will take place in
every school is to begin this month.
That's fine with Plumsted Superintendent Gerald Woehr.
He is among countless school officials who have grown into
their jobs through the Columbine High School shootings, the
Sept. 11 attacks, and then the school siege in Beslan,
Russia.
Woehr's four schools already have resource officers,
crisis plans and even a security system right out of James
Bond: optical eye scanners at outside entrances to
double-check the identity of parents and staff.
But Woehr said the incident in Russia sent a chill
through him, making him feel all the more vulnerable and all
the more welcome to any advice he can get.
"If someone wants to storm a building and even sacrifice
their own lives, an iris scanner isn't going to stop them,"
Woehr said.
Yet more security also comes at a price, he said, and
not a cheap one.
"If people want us to tighten security, it's going to
take resources," said the superintendent, whose district
received a $300,000 federal grant to install the iris
scanners. "Do we drop a math teacher to increase security in
a building?"
State officials say they are not that far along in the
process, and the first step is to determine if or how much
schools need to improve.
Demands for tighter security escalated after Columbine,
but last fall, after the massacre in Russia, the state
issued the latest series of recommendations and mandates for
districts to follow.
Districts were ordered to update their evacuation and
crisis plans, law enforcement officials were to be
consulted, even new precautions against bioterrorism were to
be shored up.
Soon after, reports came out that building plans in two
New Jersey districts showed up on a seized laptop computer
in Iraq. The schools were further told to remove any such
information from their Web sites.
The upcoming inspections will now insure that districts
followed though, officials said.
"There is good solid guidance out there for schools,"
said Lawrence O'Reilly, an assistant state attorney general
who is leading the initiative. "Our job will be to see how
well districts are doing with them."
Each district will be asked to complete a survey of
about 50 items, from their surveillance equipment and other
hardware to procedures for checking visitors and monitoring
contractors.
At the same time, the state is launching training
sessions in every county for police and school officials to
outline what to look for in the individual school
inspections. The local police will then conduct the audits,
starting in April.
A practice run in a handful of districts will likely
start even sooner, officials said, where both local and
state officials can walk through the process and see if
adjustments are needed before it goes statewide.
Montclair began a similar process on its own, conducting
an outside "risk assessment" of its schools earlier this
winter and holding a districtwide training session last week
for all of its staff, from custodians to
administrators.
The report by a security consultant is not yet complete,
but officials said even the walk through of schools was
eye-opening. For instance, they said, security has to move
beyond just when students and staff are in the
buildings.
"Something that came out of what happened in Russia and
even Columbine is they were bringing in weapons at night,"
said Dana Sullivan, the district's business administrator.
"So we got talking about knowing what is open and when, and
knowing who is working in the evenings ... These are things
we hadn't thought about as much before."
Codey said he hopes to make these discussions all the
more common in districts and has traveled the state to
promote different pieces of his initiative.
Last month, he visited the Garden State Plaza mall in
Paramus to unveil a new computer surveillance technology
that he hopes to bring to schools. The technology does not
require constant monitoring but instead sends out an alert
when, for instance, a package is left in one place for an
extended period of time.
Paramus school officials were on hand for the visit and
spoke of their own extensive emergency management system
coordinated with their police and fire officials.
Afterward, Paramus Superintendent Janice Dime said she
also worried about the rising expense that this and other
security steps may require, but agreed the stakes are too
high not to take seriously the state's suggestions.
"I'm an educator, not a security expert, and any time
you can have experts give you advice on how to best protect
our children, it is fine with me," Dime said.
John Mooney covers education. He may be reached at
jmooney@starledger.com, or (973) 392-1548.
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