Dr. Thomas Rogers, the BOCES superintendent and chief executive officer, said the surveillance center has received the full support of the NCPD and local elected leaders. In addition to Mangano, State Assemblyman David McDonough of North Merrick and County Legislators David Denenberg of Merrick and Wayne Wink of Glen Cove attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “I’m delighted to have the support of our elected officials,” Rogers said.

Lt. Kenneth Straigaro of the NCPD said the program “has been a partnership that’s been wonderful from our perspective.”

Dr. Dan Brenner, the Roslyn School District superintendent, said that districts’ top priority is keeping children “safe and secure.”

Calling the surveillance center “a perfect fit for schools,” Dr. Edward Salina, the Plainedge superintendent, said, “This is truly a win-win for all of us.”

The monitoring program will use BOCES’ fiber-optic network, called Bo-TIE, which is one of the nation’s largest such networks. School-based cameras will be motion-triggered, meaning that they will send video feeds over Bo-TIE to BOCES whenever movement is detected. For now, Steinberg said, trained BOCES security guards are staffing the center, but as the monitoring program grows, BOCES may contract with a private firm to provide surveillance services. Districts must pay BOCES a monitoring fee, but there is no connection fee to hook up to the Bo-TIE system.