Brick Schools Diligent, Thorough About Security: Superintendent

BRICK, NJ — In the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, the Brick Township Schools and Brick Township police issued a statement to try to assure parents and staff that security concerns receive attention daily.

On Tuesday, Superintendent Thomas Farrell reiterated that the school district is diligent in its efforts to protect students and staff from an attack.

"Security is a very tough issue to address," Farrell said, replying to a resident's question about what the Brick Schools are doing to address concerns about the potential for school shootings.

The district has had Thomas Gambino, the state Department of Education's director for school preparedness, in to review its procedures and protocols along with its physical security, and worked to implement recommendations where possible.

Some of the recommendations, Farrell said, relate to physical changes to the schools — changes that were included as part of a $12.5 million security proposal in 2018 that voters rejected by 40 votes. The most expensive piece of that project was creating security vestibules at every school.

Other recommendations from Gambino have been woven into what the district already was doing, some in increased spending on technology, part of its $700,000 technology budget, to help ensure safety, and some in the procedures, he said.

The district has two school resource officers at each high school, and one at each middle school. In addition, there will be three officers in the fall floating among the district's six elementary schools, as Brick has budgeted for two additional officers. All of the officers in the schools are armed, Farrell said.

Beyond that, however, Farrell declined to go into the detail the resident requested.

"I will not sit here or sit anywhere else and give anybody a blueprint of what our procedures are," he said.

"One thing we hear over and over as superintendents is to not have a standard procedure" such as which doors open and close at specific times or other defined, predictable procedures that can leave room for it to be exploited by someone seeking to do harm, Farrell said.

"We do have protocols and we do review them regularly," he said.

Some of the measures that are taken are not immediately noticeable; the day after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Texas that killed 19 children and two teachers, the district had additional police in the schools, but the officers were undercover and dressed in street clothes.

Farrell cautioned that security efforts are not a guarantee that nothing can happen.

"You can be as diligent as you want but you just can't plan on every scenario," he said. "Our procedures and protocols have been checked and double-checked by experts."

The statement after the Uvalde shooting reminded students, staff and families that everyone can help contribute to keeping the schools safe.

"It’s important to note that we cannot do this alone and that as a community we must all work together to assess potential threats and to encourage anyone who sees or hears of suspicious activity to report it immediately," the statement from Farrell and Police Chief James Riccio said. "Threats and suspicious activity can be reported directly to the Police, or to school officials, or by using the WeTip link on the school district website."