From Deer Park Schools: At this year’s Superintendent’s Conference Day assembly for staff in September, the Deer Park School District focused on two important issues that are both timely and impact safety in the schools.
Detective Clifford Lent of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homeland Security and Criminal Intelligence Bureau began the event by sharing data and statistics on active shooter incidents. He relayed a collection of best practices from schools and law enforcement agencies from across the country, including open source studies conducted by the FBI and NYPD that looked at over 220 active shooter incidents that took place in the United States from 2000 to 2016. Lent explained what an active shooter is and what the numerous variables are, such as the attacker’s proximity and choice of weapons. A key takeaway was that the rate of attacks is increasing and that the problem will not be solved soon, thus the impetus to advise educators on how to react quicker than they normally would; to know what the communication plans are in the workplace and how to initiate emergency protocols; where to run to exit the facility or take shelter; and to
be aware of the effects of shock and how to overcome them. “I am providing plays for your playbook to avoid panicking and making poor decisions when you could have made better ones,” Lent told them. “If these things are happening, we all need to personally invest in what our emergency reaction plans actually are. The whole idea is to give you information that will make you feel a little bit safer and more secure in your workplace.”
Next up was a presentation by attorney Joseph Lilly of the firm Frazer & Feldman, Garden City, New York on sexual harassment in the public school setting, which can involve adults and/or children. Lilly made the attendees aware of how federal and state laws have attempted to address this issue over the decades in in schools, including Title IX, DASA and New York State labor law, and explained how the law defines sexual harassment, with specific examples and actions. “In order to avoid even unintentionally being the subject of a complaint of sexual harassment, the utmost thing that should always be in everyone’s mind is to remember the professional boundaries that must exist, from worker to coworker, and staff to student,” Lilly said. “When those boundaries get blurred, that’s when a hostile environment can be created. We must never lose sight of being professionals.”
Find out what's happening in Deer Park-North Babylonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
He also discussed the birth of the #MeToo movement, noting, “There is now a big spotlight on this type of thing, which has absolutely no place in schools. Victims will now know that complaints will be taken seriously, that real and thorough investigations will be done, and when harassment is found to exist, it’s going to be
dealt with. It’s so important that victims have the confidence to come forward.”
Photo courtesy of the Deer Park School District
