Sally E. Bahner Photo
Board of Education (BOE) Chair Michael Krause admitted last week that the BOE failed to monitor the absence of fire and safety drills in the Branford public school system for years. This will now change.
At a meeting of the BOE’s Communications Committee earlier this month, Krause updated parents and teachers on school safety issues that have arisen in the aftermath of the shootings at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February.
Krause said he will “take ownership” of the Board’s failure, admitting that he and the board did not oversee the number of drills in the schools. “It’s not been our practice in our school district for years. It’s been handled by the administration, but yes, we should be monitoring and going forward this will be done,” he said.
In answering parent concerns, Krause outlined a failure on the part of the school superintendent to require safety drills be performed under the direction of the prinicipals who oversee the district’s schools. Krause said the reason the BOE did not monitor security issues was because that was the responsibility of the administration. Why the administration did not carry out its duties was not explained.
Schools Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez received a letter from deputy fire chief Shaun Heffernan requesting statutory requirements for drills and a review of the district’s safety plans, including new entrance procedures to be instituted at Branford High School. Heffernan’s letter indicates he will require that Hernandez comply with the law.
Currently there are no private armed guards at school entrances. The topic has not been raised specifically by the board, although at an earlier meeting, Pete Hawley, a parent, did express the belief that security officers should be armed. One Branford police officer serves as an overall school safety officer but he is not assigned to the front door.
Fire Drill Schedule
According to Branford School District Policy, “Fire drills will be held at least once a month in each school building and will reported to the Superintendent’s office. Fire drill procedure will be used in the event of a bomb threat. In the event of a bomb threat the school office of a school so threatened will call the police, the fire department and the Superintendent’s office in that order.”
According to Connecticut General Statutes, “The Principal of each school shall hold at least one fire drill each month in which all students, teachers and other employees shall be required to leave the school building…. A record shall be kept in the principal’s office of each fire drill conducted. A copy of the record shall also be filed in the Office of the Superintendent.”
Further, Connecticut General Statutes (under fire drills and crisis response drills) state, “Each local and regional board of education shall provide for a fire drill to be held in the schools of such board not later than thirty days after the first day of each school year and at least once a month thereafter…. Each board shall substitute a crisis response drill for a fire drill once every three months and shall develop a format of such crisis response in consultation with the appropriate law enforcement agency. A representative of such agency may supervise and participate in any such crisis response drill.”
Some of the updates listed by Krause double down on these local and state policies, which have been implemented only on occasion. They are also in response to the discussions that took place after the shootings on Feb. 14 at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Logs Tell the Real Story
The Eagle obtained the fire/crisis drill logs going back to August 2015, which show an irregular pattern of drills among all five schools. Five different types of drills are listed: Lockdown Safety Drill (LSD), Crisis Drill (CD), Evacuation Drill (ED); Fire Drill (FD), and Actual Event (AD).
From 2015 – 2016, November 2015 was the only month in which drills were held in each school. No single school had drills each month during the school year and none were held in May. Most were classified as ED/FD. Drills were held as follows: August – Branford High School and Walsh Intermediate School. September – Walsh and, Mary T.Murphy, John B. Sliney, and Mary R. Tisko elementary schools. October – BHS and Murphy. December – BHS. January – BHS and Walsh (2 drills). February – Walsh, Murphy, and Tisko. March – Murphy and Sliney. April – Murphy and Tisko.
For 2016 – 2017, there was no month in which all schools had drills and no drills were had in December, March, May, and June. In September, ED/FD drills were held at HS, Walsh, Sliney, and Tisko. October – Murphy, Sliney (drill, plus the Fire Safety Trailer) and Tisko (LD). November – Murphy and Sliney (both CD). January – Walsh and Tisko. February – Murphy. April – Tisko.
For 2017 – 2018, no drills were held in January and none thus far in April. Drills were held at each school in September, and in October as follows BHS (ED), Walsh (CD), Murphy and Sliney (Fire Safety Trailer), Tisko (ED and Fire Safety Trailer). November – Murphy (ED). December – Sliney. February – BHS (AE/ED/FD), Murphy, Sliney, Tisko (all ED). March – BHS (LSD) and Walsh (FD).
Krause Lists Updates
Krause outlined a list of school security updates,including the following:
• Updates in the superintendent’s report on drills with a summary spreadsheet at the end of the year on drills held in all schools;
• Review of the Safe School Climate adopted last August;
• Re-establish the Safety School Committees; completed interview process for the second security guard at Walsh and the vacant high school position;
• Meeting with police and fire to update the video surveillance program (follow-up at the end of April);
• Safety plans submitted to the state for review and awaiting feedback;
• Review of app for new website to offer real time updates;
• Research of various security forms to conduct a district-wide audit, which will be brought back for discussion and cost determination, and public comment;
• Discussion about the restructure of Walsh foyer and proposals to redesign the entrances of the high school and Indian Neck School;
• Identifying proper door locks to be installed over the summer;
• Safety drills conducted at each school during March and at Sliney and Tisko during April;
• New entrance procedures instituted at Branford High School.
Hernandez added that he has engaged the services of Dr. Joseph Erardi, former Newtown schools superintendent, who will do assessment of security from the district perspective (as opposed to law enforcement) over a period of three days. Erardi offers webinars on safety best practices for Kindergarten through grade 12. He will look at interior and exterior procedures and personnel, then law enforcement will be brought in and the “two will be blended,” then reviewed by the board.
Pre‑K, Kindergarten Registration
Hernandez said “rolling registration” (ongoing) for pre‑K and Kindergarten has been successful. Registration can be done online or at the library (if a computer is not available) or in person. It takes about 10 minutes, he said. Once the online information is submitted and in person appointment is made to finalize the process.
New District Website Coming
Sally E. Bahner Photo
Donna Mingrone (pictured), director of technology, reported that the school district’s website is being updated and should be operational next year. The current site, she said is not ADA compliant and not optimized for screen readers. She has been researching different companies and showed several pages from a format will be optimized for mobile devices. Apogee, she said will handle the transfer of the data and offers live steaming; it’s also ADA compliant. A survey will be done among families for their input.
###