As the school year begins, students, parents and faculty want to ensure everyone is safe when heading back to school. The Roslyn News spoke to the officials from the Roslyn school district about the upcoming school year and how the district plans to keep everyone safe.
The Roslyn School District covers an area of five square miles and encompasses a group of primarily residential communities on Long Island’s north shore, including the historic Village of Roslyn, East Hills, Flower Hill, Greenvale, Roslyn Estates, Roslyn Harbor and Roslyn Heights.
In total, the district has five schools. The Heights School, an early childhood center for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and half of the district’s first grade students; East Hills School, an elementary school, grades 2 through 5; Harbor Hill School, an elementary school, grades 1 through 5; Roslyn Middle School for grades 6 through 8; and Roslyn High School for grades 9 through 12. The total district enrollment exceeds 3,000 students, the Roslyn school district website states.
To enforce security, all schools in the district are equipped with a full-time security staff composed of former law enforcement officers. Each school building is limited to a single entrance, which is closely monitored by staff, and no one is permitted entry who does not have an appointment.
In the event of an emergency, the district has also developed a comprehensive working relationship with the Nassau County Police Department and has also deployed various technologies to respond to emergencies and to monitor their campuses both inside and out.
According to the school website, in March of 2018, the school district installed lockdown activation buttons in each school, which in the event of an emergency will immediately alert the police, de-activate ID-card entry systems and turn on blue strobe lights on the exterior to alert anyone on the outside that there is a lockdown in progress. High resolution cameras and ID-card entry swipes were also implemented the same year. According to school officials, the district is constantly reviewing and updating these systems.
“Security remains a top priority of the school district, and is permanently on my agenda as superintendent,” Allison Brown, superintendent of schools said. “We are constantly reviewing our procedures, updating our technology and training our staff.”
The school district plans to regularly conduct several kinds of emergency drills, including lockdown drills, in addition to the familiar fire evacuation drills. During these drills, local police are on hand to observe and are able to offer immediate feedback on the procedures.
“Many measures have been taken to improve safety and security in our schools. We are continually looking for ways to do it better and smarter. I assure our school community that we will not be distracted from this vital responsibility.”
The district also maintains an electronic communication system, which enables messages to be sent simultaneously via phone, text, email, mobile app and website in the event of an emergency.
