BY GARY SIMEONE
roslyn@antonmediagroup.com
As noted in last week’s issue, the Roslyn community has bid a fond farewell to interim School Superintendent Gerard Dempsey. At its most recent meeting, the Roslyn School District Board of Education did the same. Dempsey served as interim superintendent since 2015 and will be officially relieved of his post on July 1 so that current assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, Allison Brown can take over. Brown will be officially sworn in as school superintendent at the annual reorganization meeting on July 7.
Dempsey served as superintendent of schools in Roslyn from 2006-07. He had already received the key to the district and as an added gift of their appreciation, the board presented him with a brick as a symbol that he will always be part of the Roslyn school district foundation.
“It was a pleasure to be able to make a contribution here and work alongside a great bunch of people,” said Dempsey. “Roslyn is a fabulous place and it is the reason why I came back here.”
In other news, it was noted that each year school districts are required by state law to update their comprehensive school safety plan. This requirement usually needs to be in place by July 1 of each year but the state is giving some leeway and extending that date to September 1.
“We are working with our school principals district wide on our district wide school safety plan and building level emergency plan,” said Dempsey.
Some of the key points of the plan include naming a chief emergency officer in the district and working on floor plans in each building and making sure that faculty and staff are trained properly. Also the 12 fire drill a year rule has changed to eight fire drills and four lockdown drills per year.
Dempsey also said that school administration is working with BOCES to have a safety officer put in place to patrol the school district one day per week. The safety officer would help with emergency preparedness, training and drills.
Panic buttons are also being considered in the front desk and main office areas in the schools.
“The goal is to be completely prepared in any type of emergency situation,” said Brown.
