The Cherry Hill school district continues to make strides in school security, just as the district is reporting a three-year low in school violence, crime and substance abuse.
Director of District Security Mike Nuzzo presented the district’s annual violence, vandalism, weapons and substance abuse report for the 2012–13 school year to the Board of Education at the board’s work session meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Nuzzo was pleased to reveal that Cherry Hill schools had their lowest number of incidents since 2009–10. In addition, there were only 35 incidents of violence, which includes assault, fighting and sex offenses. That is the district’s lowest number in the last five years.
Even in cases of weapons and substance abuse, the numbers revealed some positive signs. Nuzzo revealed that there have not been any incidents involving firearms in the schools.
In addition, Nuzzo was pleased to report that, for the first time in at least five years in the district, no student was found to be under the influence of alcohol. This includes during events outside school, such as football games and school dances.
New measures strengthen security
At the end of his report, Nuzzo also highlighted the security changes that were made across the school district for the new school year.
Some of the changes include enhanced security of classroom doors, the installation of access control systems at every school and a new video surveillance system at Cherry Hill High School West.
Nuzzo and Don Bart, the district’s director of support operations, made the changes following assessments of every school building. The two worked in conjunction with Cherry Hill police to come up with the list of improvements.
Superintendent Maureen Reusche said the Board of Education made the security improvements a priority.
“The board spent a significant amount of money on the security enhancements based on those assessments conducted,” she said.
The downward trend of violence and increased security is not just a credit to the administration, but to the staff and students as well.
Nuzzo described a scenario where he witnessed a lockdown drill at one of the district’s elementary schools during lunch time. He said the staff and children did an excellent job responding to the drill during what he described as an “unconventional time.”
“You wouldn’t have known that there were any children in there except for the lunches that were sitting on the cafeteria table,” Nuzzo said.
Reusche said the credit the administration and teachers get for the excellent responses by the students during these drills has to be shared with parents.
“The strong parental community here and the lessons children are learning at home, combined with what they are learning at school, it really does strengthen the choices children are making,” she said.
Many of the board members praised Nuzzo and the administration following the presentations for their work in cracking down on violence and for enhancing security.
Board member Elliott Roth was especially impressed with the decrease in violence combined with the new security enhancements.
“You guys really seem to have a handle on this,” he said.
For those who wish to review the violence, vandalism, weapons and substance abuse report, it is available at the school district’s website, cherryhill.k12.nj.us.
