By COLlive reporter
On Wednesday, January 23rd, school administrators from Chabad schools in Brooklyn attended an NYPD conference for school principals and administrators hosted by Misaskim.
The meeting was called by NYPD’s Brooklyn Borough South Assistant Chief Thomas Chan in light of the tragic school shooting in Newton, Connecticut.
The objective of the conference was to formulate a preparedness plan for our schools in the event of a shooting emergency.
In his welcoming statement, Rabbi Yanky Meyer of Misaskim told school administrators that “while we are all tempted to rationalize that an incident similar to the one in Connecticut is unlikely to occur here, it is our responsibility to our children to take the steps to address this issue.”
He recalled that last summer there were two incidents that involved police officers and Shomrim members pursuing bank robbers in the streets of our community. In one of these incidents, the perpetrator was armed. How would school officials react should such a perpetrator decide to take shelter in a school?
New York City Councilman David Greenfield stressed that the community in Newton had all the security measures in place in their school building and certainly were not concerned about an attack. “In our case it’s the exact opposite,” Greenfield said. “If you ask any expert, they will tell you that we actually are targets.”
He went on to explain that security involves surveillance, security guards, and our busing system, among other important items. He assured everyone that his office is doing its utmost to assist schools in obtaining the resources they need to implement proper security measures.
Chief Chan pointed out that statistics show that most active shooting situations occur at educational facilities. He said that while each school is different, each yeshiva is different, and each facility is different, it is up to school administrators to formulate a security plan that is appropriate for their situation.
He urged schools to screen all visitors to their school buildings and share their evacuation plan with parents to lessen confusion during an emergency. He then introduced the NYPD’s Shield Program. This presentation outlined the appropriate actions school personnel need to take in the event of an emergency.
David Pollack of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) presented school administrators with an emergency planning program that schools can easily adapt and implement to fit their needs. The JCRC has created many emergency planning resources for organizations and is available to guide schools and other organizations in formulating an effective plan.
The conference concluded with pertinent tips from Inspector Philip Van Gostein, the NYPD Patrol Borough Brooklyn South Counter-Terrorism coordinator, who said the conference was only the first step toward securing schools.
He urged administrators to reach out and meet the school sergeants and security officers who were present at the
conference to discuss all security related questions.
Ramapo Police Chief Peter Brower told the audience that he found the conference very informative. He explained that the community in Rockland County, although not as densely populated as Brooklyn, faces similar challenges. He praised the school supervisor in his district, who is very sensitive to the schools’ needs.
Chief Brower said that a large majority of students in the East Ramapo district attend parochial schools and his department is in the process of working out security preparedness for them. He was grateful for being invited to the conference so he could see first-hand how it was being done on a larger scale.
this is agr8 idea. i appreciate it
Every Jewish resident in Crown Heights should be allowed to have a gun, after the Dinkin’s Administration ran wild with murderous, uncivilized fury. What if government abandons us again? Who, in his/her right mind trusts the government? They’re unworthy. Was Dinkins mentally ill? His police chief? Who erased all the ‘911’ tapes? How could politicians citizens of New York State allow a murderous riot to continue after the first night’s murder? Is there no protection for the public, no system to protect them? Americans can engineer a rocket, a bridge, chemical engineering…but they CANNOT engineer society. Abysmal failures in the… Read more »
Beginning each day with a moment of silence from preschool
on,so the children will be fortified for all their school years
with daily focus on a Supreme Being. Their parents will
(hopefully) discuss what they should focus on during that
moment – as proposed by the Rebbe ZY”A.
Face it…we are living in a ‘war zone.’ Everyone who might need it, should have very powerful weapons and automatic weapons would be nice to ban…providing the perpetrators don’t get them…with this weak government…don’t count on it…it’s YOUR life you’re playing with.
What will the anti-gun advocates say when a similar thing happens, G-d forbid, and the teachers, etc. don’t have enough fire power?
There lives are not in danger.
One of the classroom doors at the Newton school would not lock. The governor of Connecticut said: “Certainly, a Connecticut capital law would not have prevented Adam Lanza, a lawful citizen up to the Dec. 14 shootings, from doing what he did…” Does the governor know this for a certainty? Would he bet on this? Are the lives of 20 children and 7 adults not sufficient reason to institute the death penalty? What prevention do you/we have that this type of thing won’t happen again? Yours is incorrect thinking. Just because the murderer took his own life is not clear… Read more »
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
Homeland Security grants provide training for guards. But they never pay salaries for said guards, nor do they provide firearms training. Maybe they need to start there.
It was discussed in the news that many lives were saved at Sandy Hook because the faculty / students already had specific plans in place ( that had been practiced like fire drills ) to protect the children. These included clearing the halls, locking the classrooms, covering the windows on the door with prepared paper so that no one with evil intent could look into the classrooms, and having the students trained to cluster in the most protected area of each classroom. I understand that we don’t want to scare our precious kinderlach, but this type of planning ( like… Read more »
Thank you ‘Misaskim,’ NYPD’s Brooklyn Borough South Assistant Chief Thomas Chan and all the others who attended. First we should all know that ours is a failed system. Secondly, know, that you/we are all working with/for a failed system. Thirdly, we should all be aware, with these grave issues in front of us, that the reason for all these tragedies across America is weak government. Will government ‘own up’ to its failures? Blame the guns? Easier…then we can point our fingers in another direction. Rabbi Chanina, an assistant of the high priest said: Pray for the welfare of the government,… Read more »