By SHANNON CAULFIELD
The Medford Sun
Medford Township Board of Education held its annual reorganization meeting on Monday, Jan. 7.
President Michael Etter and vice president Trudy Cole will remain in their positions.
Additionally, members of the board were assigned to various committees. Chad Fires was reappointed as the business administrator and the board secretary and the qualified purchasing agent superintendent Joseph Del Rossi was appointed as the acting board secretary in the absence of the board secretary.
Further discussion about safety
Concern for the safety of students following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14 was addressed during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“Being reactive worked 15 years ago, you have to be proactive. What I’ve learned at my agency is you need to be proactive to prevent these types of tragedies,” said agent Jeff Kearns, a member of the FBI, Medford resident and father of a child attending school within the district. “What we’re seeing in my agency is proactive is also very expensive.”
Kearns has recently donated his time to work with Del Rossi and ways to be proactive in preventing any type of school violence.
At the meeting, Kearns recommended silent alarms hooked up in the schools where only teachers, administrators and school officials would know the location so in the event of any tragedy, the police could respond immediately.
“The will send the alert out to everyone, fire, EMS, police, then when the call comes in they can dial it back,” he said. “Time is of the essence.”
Additionally, Kearns suggested a student resource officer, an armed police officer that is part of the Medford Township District staff.
“It will make a difference. If you look at the cases, Newtown, Columbine, Virginia Tech, the individuals killed themselves when they knew law enforcement was on them,” said Kearns.
He suggested the officer be picked up on a slow basis and the time and money spent on the project will be worth it in the long run.
“It’s incredibly important that our children feel safe,” he said.
Del Rossi noted the district’s goal was to review and refine safety at the individual schools.
“We’ve made some internal changes not only to our procedural nature, but other things I’m not at liberty to speak of yet,” said Del Rossi.
According to Del Rossi, the school board has been in contact with local officials to continue the effort of reviewing and making future changes. He added he feels the school board is well ahead of the curve when it comes to safety.
“I’ve had numerous meetings and consultations with both public safety officials and Agent Kearns. I think we’re all well aware we have an excellent police force, they have been working closely with us on drills and incorporating different scenarios we have gotten feedback from with our principals,” he said.
Del Rossi added Kearns and the FBI has provided numerous tips which will propel change.
Next meeting
Additional regular action was taken on the agenda.
The next board of education meeting will be held Monday, Jan. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Middle School, located at 55 Mill St.
