Assessment Focuses On School Safety & Security By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese





The Garden City Police Department evaluated hazards in and around all Garden City School District buildings as part of a threat assessment survey and explained the emergency management process at Monday evening’s Board of Education meeting.

“The goal was to take the ‘safety pulse’ of the school by looking closely at established emergency response protocols and indicators including, but not limited to, acts of violence, weapons possession, gang activity, substance abuse, intruder access, vandalism, loitering, etc.,” said Detective/Sergeant James Bartkowski.

Bartkowski and Sergeant William Grimes spent 60 days in November and December conducting extensive interviews and doing on-site inspections. In addition, administrators in each building were required to answer a lengthy series of survey questions related to security and safety. The police department officials spent 22 hours per school for a total of 150 hours.

“Health and safety is a topic that is taken very seriously here in Garden City,” said John Powell, the district’s assistant superintendent of business and finance, in his introduction of Det./Sgt. Bartkowski.

The results will now be evaluated and procedures will be modified where necessary. Once those procedures are implemented, the district will review them once again to make sure they are effective.

Prevention and mitigation is the first phase of school emergency management, explained Det./Sgt. Bartkowski. After foreseeable hazards are identified the risk must be assessed to determine if it can “cause a serious disruption to the educational mission.” The next phase is to actually take the necessary steps to prevent or eliminate the hazard, or, in the event it is not possible, to try to control or mitigate the risk.

Although Det./Sgt. Bartkowski repeatedly emphasized “never say never” when it comes to possible threats, he said the Garden City School District is “way ahead of the curve” when it comes to safety and security and was told by BOCES that the district is looked upon as a model by the rest of the state. He said the police department’s biggest concern is intruders, especially at the high school, which has an open campus policy.

“We are pretty close to being confident that we provide a safe atmosphere,” he said. Survey results are available to the public at the Business Office, which is located in the Administration Building at 56 Cathedral Avenue. For more information, call 478-1040.

In other news, a special meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Monday at 8 p.m. in the board room of the Administration Building. It is expected that the Board will formally announce the district’s purchase of the Middle School fields.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen introduced the new director of Pupil Personnel Services, Catherine Wheeler. She will begin on July 1st and replace interim director Susan Kosser. Wheeler was PPS director in the North Merrick school district for the past six years and has previous experience as a special education review officer for the New York State Department of Education. She also taught the visually impaired.

School Board President Kenneth Monaghan announced that legislation is pending in Albany that would permanently limit the shift between tax classes to one percent. The School Board is working with a group through Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi’s office to find ways to get a larger percentage of state aid to schools in Nassau County.

Dr. Feirsen said administrators had a “very productive” meeting with directors of local preschools. “We wanted to be able to begin a dialogue with preschools about what their programs are, what our kindergarten program is and how the two align,” he said. “We have found, really much to our satisfaction, that there is a great deal of alignment.” Dr. Feirsen said he hopes to meet with directors annually.

Dr. Feirsen said a letter will be sent to parents reminding them that April 12th has been designated as an Emergency Preparedness Early Dismissal Day. Students will be dismissed 15 minutes early and no after-school child care will be available. The exercise is designed to test the district’s ability to evacuate their facilities swiftly and safely.




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