City Of Stamford, Public Safety Officials Highlight School Security

STAMFORD, CT — City, school and public safety officials on Wednesday afternoon gathered outside of the Stamford Government Center to highlight the school safety and security plan that will be implemented this year and in the future.

School security has once again come to the forefront, following last spring's shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Locally, and more recently, several hoax threats involving reports of active shooters were made at school districts around Connecticut, including in Stamford, on Oct. 21.

"Safety and security of our students, teachers and administrators is our utmost priority," said Mayor Caroline Simmons. "This is about being proactive and doing everything we can to implement these additional measures and additional training which we know will save lives, so we can allow students, teachers and administrators to get back to learning."

Last week, the Stamford Board of Education voted to add $4 million towards school security as part of the school district's overall $8.13 million short-term capital budget.

The plan includes:

• School Security Upgrades – The city administration submitted to the Stamford Board of Finance an immediate funding request to allocate $400,000 of the city’s remaining American Rescue Plan funds for school security upgrades, including card readers and key fobs. Card readers are industry-standard, according to Stamford Public Schools Safety Director Joe Kennedy. Kennedy said the immediate request will push the process of receiving the equipment ahead by a year. He did not have details on an exact timeframe.
• Safety Training – Building upon the active shooter training and the school security forum that were held earlier this year, Stamford Public Schools will conduct additional active shooter trainings in partnership with the Stamford Police Department. Training will also be coordinated with early childhood centers and private schools in Stamford.
• Infrastructure Upgrades – All long-term facilities plans for Stamford Public Schools will incorporate student safety and security into future school designs.
• Emergency Communication Upgrades – The Stamford Department of Public Safety, in partnership with the city’s first responders and public safety officials, will continue to enhance the city’s emergency notification systems.Simmons thanked various city departments and first responders for their collaboration in addressing school safety.

Simmons said following the hoax incident on Oct. 21, her administration, along with the police department, superintendent of schools, fire department and school district officials, and other key public safety officials, met and conducted an internal after action report to review the response to the incident.

Police decided to place Stamford High School on lockdown shortly before 9 a.m., on Oct. 21 after the school received a report of an active shooter in the building. Officers responded in under two minutes, and made the call to implement a district-wide lockdown.

However, the active shooter report was deemed a hoax within 16 minutes of the first call, and the lockdown at SHS was lifted. Because police acted so quickly, communication was crossed and some schools weren't aware that a lockdown was even in place to begin with, Kennedy said.

While most of the security upgrades that were talked about Wednesday had been on the table for some time, Kennedy noted that emergency communications was a glaring issue when reviewing the incident.

There will be additional monthly emergency communications testing for city officials, public safety officials and school administrators.

"Our goal is to make sure our communications databases are always up to date, and key stakeholders are regularly trained in emergency communications," Simmons added.

Simmons called the hoax incident an important reminder about being proactive when it comes to children's safety.

"There's nothing more important than keeping our city safe, and we are committed to taking action to do so," she said.

Stamford Police Chief Timothy Shaw said the department's active shooter training has evolved over the last 15 years, and officers are going through an update to that training this year.

Shaw said the department is looking forward to getting to all schools around the city to work on the extra training outlined in the school security plan.

"Our school children are our most precious group that we're responsible for, and we realize that. Our officers also have children in these schools," Shaw said. "We will continue to work hand-in-hand with the superintendent (Dr. Tamu Lucero) and her team to ensure that children will continue to learn in the safest school environment that we can provide in a collaborative effort."

Lucero said Wednesday's press conference served as a way to show the community that all facets of the city are working together to solve the issue of school security.

She noted last week during the board of education meeting that the school district made determinations on what safety upgrades were necessary through safety assessments.

"We will continue to work together. We really do think this will make a huge difference for our staff and our students and our families feeling safe in our school," Lucero said Wednesday.

Kennedy said it was difficult to strike a balance between having enough security and not hardening schools too much.

"The last thing you want to do is create that prison atmosphere," he said. "We have a pretty good school district, we have a lot of good kids; these are just kids trying to go to school. We do want to have control for safety reasons, but we're not looking to make their school experience negative."