Sewanhaka Central High School District officials address security concerns

With the spate of school shootings still prominent across the country, the superintendent of the Sewanhaka Central High School District recently addressed concerns from parents about the safety of students in the district.

With incidents of violence still reeling in their minds, concerned parents asked school officials at a Sewanhaka board of education meeting on March 28 what security measures are in place to ensure students’ security.

“Anything can happen anywhere at any time,” superintendent James Grossane said at the meeting. “Everything that we can be doing at this time, I believe the district has been doing — we are as safe as we can be.”

About 130 mass shootings have been reported across the country thus far in 2023 — 39 of which have occurred on school grounds, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.

On March 27, an armed individual shot and killed six people —three children and three staff members — at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tenn.

Closer to home, a 13-year-old student was recently stabbed by another student at Lindenhurst Middle School.

According to the Sewanhaka Central High School District 2022-23 safety plan, in an active shooter or any emergency event, building principals, assistant principals and deans can bypass all 911 calls and launch an emergency response by local law enforcement with just a push of a button on their cell phones.

Grossane said police officers in the local precincts can grant themselves access to the school building at a moment’s notice through provided key cards. Law enforcement in the area also has a map of the building and rights to all of the school’s security cameras to identify any possible threat in the building.

The vestibules installed throughout the district are a “simple stop-gap” for security to confirm visitors are supposed to be in the building, Grossane said. They are also made of bullet-resistant glass.

The high school is also on permanent lockout and visitors can only come through one entrance.

One capital improvement project included in the 2023-24 school budget proposal is a district wide security camera upgrade. One past upgrade was installing lock systems on all classroom doors.

In his interactions with Homeland Security and 40 years in education, Grossane said he has been told the best deterrent in an active shooting situation is a locked classroom.

“One of the things that I saw that really disturbed me on the police officers’ body cams was the fact that doors were unlocked,” Grossane said. “Our doors are locked.”

Many news outlets reported it took police at least 14 minutes to arrive at the Nashville school. Grossane said in practice drills, the police can get to Sewanhaka High School in roughly two or three minutes.

The board has considered implementing armed guards in the district’s schools, but has not moved forward with any decision.

In addition to improving security, Grossane said the district has hired additional support staff, social workers, guidance counselors and school psychologists to work with students, especially those who might be struggling.

“I want to tell you nothing will ever happen, but I can’t,” Grossane said. “We’ve really tried to secure the building as much as we can.”