After Sandy Hook BCS To Evaluate Security

by Thaddeus Flint
In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the Berlin Central School District School Board, at the monthly meeting Tuesday, passed a resolution to completely evaluate the District’s security policies. The resolution passed with all in attendance in favor; Board Member Bev Stewart was absent that night.
[private]“I would like to re-evaluate our current security systems,” said Board President Jim Willis, who mentioned considering everything from key-cards to bullet proof glass panels at the entrance.
Grafton Town Councilwoman Barb Messenger asked the District’s Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Stephen Young, “What security measures do we currently have in place?”
Young said that a member of staff monitors the one non-locked glass door entry way into the Middle School/High School. Only after showing identification and signing in is a visitor allowed into the building. Visitors going further than the front office are escorted.
For the most part this is a rather typical policy that was implemented in many school districts around the country as a result of the Columbine shootings in 1999. Sandy Hook Elementary had a similar policy to that of BCS’, and it was found to be ineffective. The shooter simply shot his way through the glass door way. With that realization, bullet proof glass may indeed one day become part of the standard construction procedures of American schools.
“I think everything needs to be looked at,” said Board Member Frank Zwack. “From the moment we take ownership of that child until the moment we deliver the child back home.” Parents in the District have previously questioned the safety of the District’s transportation policy which could see students dropped off in remote locations.
“It must be an ongoing process,” pointed out Zwack, who doesn’t want to “rush through things.”
Board Member John Nash, however, wanted Young to immediately start work on the evaluation of the safety procedures. “Contact the State Police,” he said. Young stated that he had already contacted the State Police. “We are a safe school,” said Young, “but we could be better.”
High School Principal, Dr. Catherine Allain, pointed out that there is a Safety Committee which meets monthly and coordinates with police and fire departments. “It is an ongoing process in the District,” she said, “we are constantly evaluating safety.”
Elementary Schools Put Back On Market
The District’s two vacant elementary schools, in Stephentown and Grafton, will be put back up for sale after both towns rejected taking on the responsibilities of the properties. Grafton Town Councilman Rick Ungaro presented a petition from residents in Grafton to the Town Board as proof that a significant proportion of the citizens there did not support becoming the new owners of Grafton Elementary. The 22 page petition contained 627 signatures, which, according to Ungaro, “represents better than half of the voting population of Grafton from the Presidential election.” Grafton has a population of around two thousand so the number is indeed significant. Certainly a bit more significant than the 58 signatures on a petition Grafton Fire Chief Jim Goyer presented to the Grafton Town Board in November asking the Board to look more carefully at the pros and cons of purchasing the school building.
According to Young, a few errors in the paperwork prepared by the realtor to put the schools back on the market are being taken care of. Grafton “will be on the market by tomorrow,” he said, and Stephentown will follow soon after.
Should the entire Country fall off the so-called fiscal cliff come January, any money the District might make in real estate will certainly be needed. According to Board Member and Legislative Liaison, Katie Fiske, school districts in the State would lose an average of $254,000 in federal funding for their 2013-2014 budgets.
At the same time the District is looking to add some staff. Academic Intervention Services (AIS) needs six part time positions to make sure 54 students can pass Regents exams in January. Nash was not impressed with this. “What’s happening in the classroom settings that we keep having to add these services?” he asked. “It sounds to me like we are being reactive rather than proactive,” he said. “It’s a significant amount of money.”
Allain said that she had “worked quite hard” to fill the positions with the current staff but it just wasn’t contractually possible. “This is my last ditch effort, to come back to you do get the job done,” she said.
The extra positions were granted. Board Member Alan Webster Jr. advised that next year these positions be added to the budget and filled before the beginning of the school year. Young noted that one full time position would probably be added to the next budget year.
A full time special education teacher will also be hired. According to Director of Pupil Services, Nancy Mills, between July and December 35 new students were registered in the elementary school. A staggering 43% of the new students have special education needs. “It’s an astonishing number,” said Mills, and has a “phenomenal impact on the District.”
Willis wondered why it was that the District attracts so many special needs students. “Is it because our program is so robust that people are flocking here?” he asked. Mills was not sure, though she did say that most did have a relationship in some way to the community.
Nash asked why it was that if all these new students kept appearing, how come the enrolment reports he receives show that the District is actually shrinking? Nash constantly marvels that even he – a sitting Board member – can’t get an accurate report of how many students actually exist in the District he oversees.  Mills didn’t know the answer to that. What she did know is that “everyone is working at their max right now.”
Capital Project
Whether or not the District is shrinking or growing, the Capital Project is still moving along. Windows and lead abatement should take place this summer and drawings for Phase II are in the works. “We are right on track,” said Young, even though $5 million in bonds is still missing to fund the project as originally planned. The Bond authorization vote was taken, as usual, and failed to pass once again to the surprise of precisely nobody. Nash and Webster Jr. voted against the authorization, and all others present voted for it.
School Spirit?
What has surprised a number of residents though is a recent lack of color in the school, specifically in the girls cheerleading team. Pam Gerstel and Joanne Keller presented a letter from the Alumni Committee Association asking why it was that a decision was made to change “sports related uniforms to a color other than ‘our school colors’ of green and gold.” The District has been green and gold for the past 70 years, pointed out Keller, and now the cheerleading team has suddenly gone to black and white. “This is another example of how some people are ruining school spirit,” she said.
Gerstel said it all started when some people tried to take down the Mountaineer painting in the old high school gymnasium. “They wanted  it to be a tiger or something,” she said.
Then someone painted the hallways of the elementary school purple. “We do not want our colors changed,” said Gerstel. “Our colors are here to stay.”
As it turns out, the colors of BCS are not changing to black and white no matter what the cheerleaders are currently skipping about in. A decision was made to buy new uniforms. Green and gold was ordered and the vendor sent black and white. Why is not completely clear. However somebody along the line did make the decision to accept the uniforms, and, as the girls are wearing them, they can’t be sent back. Who that “somebody” was is to be investigated further. At around $135 each, 25 uniforms comes to $3,375.
“Somebody should suffer for the mistake that was made,” said Board Member Gina Goodermote who worries that the District will be stuck with black and white cheerleaders for six years before new uniforms can be budgeted. “Tradition is tradition.”[/private]