By Sunayana Prabhu
As the nation once again grieves the loss of young children and staff members in the aftermath of an elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, local administrators, boards of education and police departments in the Two River area have reinforced security rules and ramped up police presence on campuses.
Parents have been on edge after the shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers just 10 days after another mass shooting in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and have reached out to school administrations seeking assurance on school security measures.
“Safety is our utmost priority,” said Louis Ferraro, director of Safety and Security at Rumson County Day School. “Unfortunately, we have to think about a worst-case scenario. That’s what our plans are designed to do. We practice, we plan, we drill. We make sure that we have the safest environment for the whole school community.”
Rumson County Day School is in continuous communication with the Rumson Police Department to update its safety and security on campus, which includes conducting active shooter drills as part of state law.
One of the largest school districts in Monmouth County, Middletown Township took stringent safety measures in the wake of the shooting and in reaction to recent false threats in the region, adding armed special officers in each school in the district. At a meeting Monday, June 6, the Middletown Township Committee unanimously passed a resolution to hire the law enforcement officers and place them throughout the district’s 16 public, parochial, private and vocational schools, which educate more than 9,200 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
The resolution is effective June 1 through the remainder of the 2022 school year, as well as during the extended school year and SOAR (Student Outreach and Academic Resources) programs this summer.
In Red Bank, beginning with the 2022-23 academic year, a school resource officer program may be implemented in public schools pending borough and board of education approvals, Red Bank Police Chief Darren McConnell announced at a public safety forum June 6.
School resource officers are armed retired New Jersey police with specialized training to certify for the position.
“Their primary goal when assigned to the schools is safety of the school, the students and the staff,” McConnell said. The officers are not to be seen as disciplinarians but safeguards that are accessible in an emergency while awaiting a police response, “because even one or two or three minutes can make a huge difference,” he said.
McConnell also noted a secondary purpose of the school resource officers – to build trust and rapport with students so threats or crises may be known before they happen and prevented altogether. “That’s my goal,” he said, “and that’s the goal of our school superintendent. It’s to make it very positive and hopefully something that we don’t need.”
Addressing parents on a Zoom session with McConnell, Jared Rumage, Ed.D., superintendent of Red Bank Borough Public Schools, said school administration is in constant communication with the Red Bank Police Department to improve safety and facilities. They also regularly work with the New Jersey Department of Education Office of Emergency Management, whose employees frequently test the buildings’ safety measures.
“We’ve had the opportunity over the last few years to greatly improve and enhance our infrastructure regarding school safety,” Rumage said in the meeting. “We’ve made safety and security of our buildings and for our students, staff and community our No. 1 priority.”
In addition to the public schools, the Red Bank Police Department has also been participating in regular drills at Red Bank Charter School, St. James School and Red Bank Catholic High School.
According to officials, schools in the Two River area will continue to employ surveillance systems with updated cameras and visitors will be required, as always, to announce their presence and provide identification before entering a school. Each school will also continue to reevaluate and hold monthly drills.
In addition to active safety measures, many districts are also focusing on mental health initiatives in an effort to arrest the root cause of these crises. Looking out for its teachers and students, Middletown Township has offered additional counseling and mental health resources. “If your child is experiencing anxiety or grief, we have trained staff at each school who can help,” said superintendent Mary Ellen Walker in a statement to the school community. She encouraged parents to communicate with their child’s principal and counselors.
“Safety of students and staff has always been and continues to be the top priority of District administration and the Board of Education,” she said.
The article originally appeared in the June 9 – 15, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
