Plan Enacted Following News That Radios Don't Work In GR Schools

GLEN ROCK, NJ — Authorities have enacted a plan to increase security at the middle and high schools following the revelation that emergency responder radios do not work inside the buildings.

In a letter to residents Wednesday, Mayor Bruce Packer and interim Superintendent Bruce Watson said that representatives from the borough, school district, and police department convened a think tank to evaluate the matter.

"Based on our assessment of the school building, existing communications equipment, and current technology, the group has developed a concrete plan that will result in a higher level of security in the building for the protection of students, staff, and first responders," Packer and Watson stated in the letter.

Packer and Watson did not share details of the plan. They said "it would not be appropriate."

Councilman Skip Huisking, chairman of the Borough Public Safety Division, told NorthJersey.com that the radios do not work and that users cannot talk to dispatch or people outside of the buildings.

Glen Rock Ambulance Corps Chief Ed Esposito said in the NorthJersey.com report that the problem is not with the radios, which are up to date. The problem is too much steel in the school buildings.

"The steel forms a shield," Esposito said in the report.

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