Lacey Schools 'Committed' To Providing Student Safety

LACEY, NJ — Lacey school officials addressed school safety and are reaffirming that safety is a top priority for students in the upcoming school year.

At a recent Board of Education meeting, another retired police officer was hired, bringing the total to six - one for each of Lacey's schools.

"Our commitment to having an armed, retired police officer in each of our schools stands strong," said Superintendent Vanessa Pereira Clark.

Officer Nick Norton joins Lou Brignola, Roger Santos, Bobby Johnson and Frank Bruno, Clark said. They will meet with Lacey Police Chief Michael DiBella, who will plan and train with them for the upcoming school year.

Safety has been a concern in the past few years, but particularly after the Uvalde, Texas shooting this past school year, where 19 students and two teachers were killed.

"We've come a long way in Lacey with the installation of our security vestibules, the updating of our visitor management protocols, ALICE training," Clark said. The district is ALICE certified, which means that the district has gone through school shooter response training by the ALICE training institute.

One thing the district is currently working on is reunification training. If an active shooter situation were to occur and students had to be evacuated, reunification training would help to get those students back with their parents, Clark said.

"It's coming up with a systematic plan that helps us do that in an orderly way," she said. "So that that piece of the crisis should be the least of our concerns."

"The topic of student and staff safety was also at the top of our list this summer," Clark said.