GUILDERLAND — How will the community react to closed doors at the Guilderland schools"

The school board considered that question and others as a committee made over two dozen recommendations Tuesday on school security.

An advisory subcommittee of the district’s Safe and Drug-Free Schools Committee put a positive face on its central proposal.

Parent Tracy Falvo said there would be a controlled, single point of access to school buildings while keeping a friendly atmosphere.

The plan is to hire five part-time security monitors for the five elementary schools, at an estimated cost of $32,500, and to install magnetic locks with entry buzzers at the main entrance of each school, at an estimated cost of $10,000.

Additionally, a pass-key entry-access system would be installed at three of the elementary schools with the most outside use — Guilderland, Pine Bush, and Westmere — at an estimated cost of $16,500.
The committee presented pictures of such a system in action, showing a smiling monitor pushing a button to admit school visitors deemed acceptable. A two-tone chime, which Falvo described as "pleasant," sounded.

The visitors then show identification, such as a driver’s license, before signing in. The pictured pair waved cordially as they walked away from the monitor’s desk; the monitor waved in return.
"Now we’ll have a person to greet our visitors, answer questions, and offer directions," said Falvo, describing the process as "very friendly."
"The new piece to me is locking the doors," said board member Colleen O'Connell. "I think that is a change of culture...a change of atmosphere."

Currently, signs are posted at all school entrances, directing visitors to sign in at a central location where a log book is kept. Identification tags are required for all staff and visitors. And video cameras have been installed at the main entrances of Westmere and Lynnwood elementary schools and throughout Farnsworth Middle School, which is being renovated and expanded.

Falvo had described potential security threats as including intruders, hostile or emotionally-disturbed parents, students, sex offenders, and terrorists.

The board will discuss the plan further at its next meeting, on July 5. Committee members said they would like the new system in place by September.

History

Frank Falvo, Tracy Falvo’s husband, co-chaired the security committee. The couple has two children who are students at Pine Bush Elementary School.

Frank Falvo first raised the issue of school security at a budget session in October.

A former American Airlines pilot, Falvo said that on Sept. 11, 2001, he was in the airplane that took off before the plane that hit the Pentagon.
He referred in October to a recent "lockdown" at Pine Bush Elementary.
"People see schools as soft targets when there’s no one monitoring the door," he said.

The matter became a budget issue in April when the board had a lengthy and heated debate before adopting a $76 million spending plan that was ultimately passed by voters.

Members of the subcommittee made a last-minute request in April to fund front-door monitors at the elementary schools; the district’s middle school and high school already have such monitors.

Ultimately, the board agreed to allocate $60,000 in the budget for the monitors.

At that time, the board debated the best way to make the schools safer. One board member said cameras and locked doors may be safest; another said anti-bullying programs are the most important. Ultimately, the measure passed in a split vote, 6 to 3.

Board member Barbara Fraterrigo, a member of the Safe Schools Committee, said experts had been consulted who agreed that front-door monitors were best and most cost-effective for security.

Board member Linda Bakst responded at that April meeting, her voice quavering with passion, that the Department of Homeland Security had recommended duct tape and cellophane for protection, indicating that experts aren’t always to be believed.
"What’s driving this is fear...," Bakst said at the time. "We want our children to be safe...It’s the wrong answer. Vigilance is the answer.."

Current concerns

This week, Bakst said she did not oppose the idea of monitors, but she was curious how a monitor would determine which people should be buzzed in to the school.
"That’s the training aspect," responded Robert Collins, the district’s health and safety director.
"I’m troubled," said Bakst. If she were at home, she said, and an "unsavory person" came to her door, and she decided not to let him in, that would be fine.
But if there were, for example, a parent who looked unsavory, Bakst thought the school wouldn’t have the "luxury" of refusing him entrance.
"All it takes is one oops," said Collins. He said the monitor would be trained to detain the person and call 911. Ideally, he said, buildings would be remodeled so that visitors access them through a lobby, separate from the school, until they are admitted.
Board member David Picker asked if it were more common for an intruder to look threatening or to pose as "a good guy."
School Resource Officer Brian Forte, a Guilderland Police officer stationed in the high school and a member of the committee, responded, "There’s been cases both ways." He said there was "no conclusive evidence one is more dominant than the other."

Forte also said the monitors will be trained in self-defense and will be in communication with police.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders said that building principals will decide on the best hours to station monitors at their schools. He said the most a monitor can work is 20 hours a week before the district must pay benefits.

Collins said staff across the school will be called on to keep buildings safe and secure.
"It’s all for one and one for all," he said, stating the responsibility can’t sit entirely on the shoulders of a single monitor.

Time frame

O’Connell expressed concern that the security committee had not consulted with the five elementary-school PTA’s or with the building cabinets, which are site-based management teams made up of administrators, staff, and parents.

She asked if there were plans to see there is a consensus.
"We were looking more globally and hadn’t gotten to a lot of specifics," said Pine Bush Principal Martha Beck, who served on the committee.

Board member Richard Weisz said he would like a sense from parents about the need to lock up the schools. He said he wants the community to look at the proposal as a positive step and urged allowing time for public discussion and response.
Collins said the "communication link" was important.

Frank Falvo said that PTA members had been invited to participate in committee meetings and just one person attended from the middle school.
O’Connell responded later in the meeting, "To say leaders of PTA’s have been lax in their duties because they didn’t jump on the bandwagon is inappropriate."

Frank Falvo also said the committee's charge was to develop recommendations and bring them to the school board, which forms an interface with the citizens.
"We currently have no screening process...It is wide open," said Falvo of security at the elementary schools.

Carolyn Kelly, who identified herself as both a committee member and a PTA member, said it is important to have the new system in place by September.
The proposal was publicized as part of the budget and, she said, "The budget passed." A lot of people voted for the budget, Kelly said, because of the security measures.

Fraterrigo expressed concern that the board might delay implementing the plan.
President William Brinkman, presiding over his last meeting before retiring from the board, said, "Barbara, if you want this in September, you guys can vote in July."
Superintendent Gregory Aidala commented that the board has always wanted to wait until its next meeting to decide on an issue "in order to have time to digest."
Bakst cautioned, "Let’s be realistic about whether we can have it in place even if we approve it tonight."
She said that, in order for the community to be "comfortable" with the plan, it has to be done right.
"Everything we do is a work in progress," said Brinkman. "We make changes as necessary."

Brinkman noted that some monitors are already being trained.
"We’ve got to have faith," he said, "if they say they’ll do it, they’ll do it."
"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves," cautioned Aidala. "We can stop here, mull it over in our minds, and have continued discussion on July 5."

At that meeting, the board will have two new members as Picker and Brinkman will have stepped down.
Fraterrigo reiterated that the "number-one recommendation" of the state expert who reviewed Guilderland’s security was to have a single point of entry at each school with a locked door.
She concluded the discussion by saying, "I don’t want to see us delay a decision in July after all the work that has gone into this for a year."