file Photo Boyd Loving
North Jersey school leaders debate calls for tighter security
Monday December 17, 2012, 7:28 PM
BY NICK CLUNN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
On the first day of school since the massacre in Connecticut, local officials in North Jersey vowed to assess the strength of school security plans by gauging if the buildings under their watch could withstand such a determined attack.
Ringwood public schools welcomed students on Monday with what seemed the boldest response — a police officer assigned to each of the four schools. The show of force generated a positive reaction from parents who felt reassured their children would be safe, said Bernard Lombardo, chief of the Ringwood Police Department.
“We’ll do it as long as we’re not busy doing other stuff,” Lombardo said, adding that the Newtown tragedy “helped refocus us back to what should be our priority – protecting children.”
While many school administrators said it was too soon to offer proposals, others spoke Monday of specific layers of protection they could add or improve to shield students from a remote, but devastating possibility. Meanwhile, other school chiefs wondered what more could be done, and whether beefed-up security would be worth the drawbacks, in view of the fact that many schools already lock exterior doors, employ surveillance cameras and strictly enforce sign-in protocols for visitors.
“I don’t think any policy would have stopped what happened in Newtown, Connecticut — unless we want to completely lock down our schools and turn them into gulags,” said Little Falls superintendent William Petrick, who district has plans to increase surveillance cameras, from three to 22.