By Donald Wittkowski
Locked doors, X-ray machines and even armed guards are some of the security measures that have been implemented at schools nationwide amid an outbreak of shootings and other acts of violence against children.
Officials from the state, Cape May County and Ocean City will focus on ways that schools are protecting their students – and what more might be done – during the first ever school security summit organized by the Cape May County School Boards Association.
“This is our first and foremost concern. I want parents to feel safe when they send their kids to school,” said Jacqueline A. McAlister, president of the Cape May County School Boards Association.
The security summit will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Ocean City High School. Top school administrators, school board members and representatives of the Parent Teacher Association from across the county will join with security experts and law enforcement officials to examine the issue. The summit is closed to the public.
McAlister, who also serves as director of adult education at the Cape May County Technical School and is vice president of the Ocean City Board of Education, stressed that schools must be proactive in their approach toward security.
“Here in Cape May County, by the grace of God, we have not had, to my knowledge, any serious security incidents. But we can’t sit back and hope that nothing happens,” she said. “We need to be fully prepared in case something does happen.”
McAlister noted that the summit will be an opportunity for school officials to share their ideas for improving security, including steps they have already taken at their schools.
“We can’t have one good idea in one school and have it be proprietary to that school,” she said. “It’s all for the benefit of children in Cape May County and throughout New Jersey.”
At Ocean City’s schools, for instance, visitors simply can’t stroll in and have unfettered access to the buildings. They must ring a doorbell at the front entrance and then pass through a contained area, where they are met by school staff.
School officials nationwide continue to search for ways to heighten security in the aftermath of mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, Columbine High School in Colorado and other places.
Even relatively simple and commonsense security measures, such as the procedure for admitting visitors to Ocean City’s schools, have improved student safety, McAlister explained.
Security specialists and school officials will discuss an array of school security programs and innovations during the summit. The Ocean City Police Department has agreed to send a representative. There will also be a question-and-answer session between the speakers and the audience, McAlister said.
Among the speakers, Ocean City Schools Superintendent Kathleen Taylor is expected to focus on the mental health initiatives that have been implemented in Ocean City’s schools. Taylor will also discuss connections between mental health awareness, school security and the community, McAlister said.
Ben Castillo, director of the New Jersey Department of Education’s Office of School Preparedness and Emergency Planning, will outline security steps and innovations at the state level.
Cape May County Freeholder E. Marie Hayes is expected to talk about the county’s school security measures. Hayes, a retired law enforcement official, served as captain of detectives in the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and specialized in cases involving child abuse.
Rich McHale, head of security for the Cape May County Technical School, also has been invited to speak. McHale, a retired Middle Township police officer, formerly worked for a Department of Defense contractor that advised security forces and the military in war-torn Afghanistan, McAlister said.
Geoffrey Haines, principal of the Ocean City Intermediate School, is expected to join McHale in discussing security in the local schools.
