Mar. 14, 2018:  Editor's note:  Roy R. Montesano, superintendent of the Bronxville schools, sent the following message dated March 1, 2018, to the Bronxville community. 

Dear Bronxville Community:

We were all shocked and saddened by the recent horrific school shooting in Parkland, Florida, and we continue to pray for the victims, their families and the community of Parkland. As the days go by, I am in awe of the courageous acts by the students of Parkland who are speaking out and keeping the pressure on our nation's leaders to do something. Indeed, enough is enough. While we are very fortunate to live and/or work in our beautiful Village, we are also reminded that these incidents can occur anywhere. It is important that our community understands that any time we are given information related to a safety issue, the information is shared with the police department and investigated thoroughly. As we deal mostly with minor children and are prohibited by law, details and results related to an investigation are often not shared.

The events of Parkland serve as a reminder for us to be vigilant as we consider our district safety procedures and protocols. As a district, we continuously review our security measures and work with our district safety committee — consisting of staff, parents and our local PD — to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect our students and staff. In addition, we recently met with a security firm to complete a safety audit of our school to point out areas where we may be most vulnerable.

As a result of our reviews, I want to let you know about some improvements we are making to further secure our campus and to ask for your continued cooperation. The administrative team has met and consulted with the Bronxville PD to review and modify certain procedures that involve parent/visitor appointments. Below is an outline of the changes we anticipate implementing starting on March 19th.

• All visitors are asked to enter one of the three main entrances (Midland, Meadow or Pondfield) to our school and check in with the security guard. The guards will be provided with a list of scheduled appointments each day and will confirm the visitor's appointment.

• The guard will call to the room/office to announce the visitor. We will be asking all visitors to leave an ID at the security desk.

• Following the appointment, visitors will be asked to go back to the security desk to retrieve their ID upon exiting the school building.

In addition to changes to the visitor process and in cooperation with the Bronxville Police Department, students will experience a greater presence of police officers in and around our building. The police have been doing "park and walkthroughs" in our building since last year, which will continue to be a standard police policy. A small office space will be made available to the police to use throughout the day, providing an opportunity for them to be in our building on a regular basis and further build communication bonds with our students.

Additionally, our security measures will include the purchase and installation of a one-button lockdown system. This will include wall-mounted blue emergency buttons installed throughout the building. Similar to that of fire alarms, the system is designed so that when the button is pushed, police will be immediately contacted with critical information, strobe lights will flash indicating a lockdown situation, and an automatic message will be delivered over the PA system. As you may have seen, we have included the installation of a mantrap at the Meadow Avenue entrance as part of the proposed March 13threferendum.

Along with these added safety measures, we continue to conduct emergency drills and provide additional training to further equip our staff and students, and in order to ensure we are utilizing best current practices.

We remain focused on the social and emotional well-being of our students and continue to monitor our health-related programs and services to support students who may need additional attention.

As you may be aware, there is a movement towards a National School Walkout scheduled for March 14. The call is for students to walk out of their schools at 10 a.m. and remain outside for a period of 17 minutes in honor of the 17 lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. As a district, we will be respecting the rights of our students (grades 6-12) who choose to walk out. We also want to respect those students who choose not to walk out. If any elementary student (K-5) wishes to participate in the walkout, we ask that parents come to the school to sign them out. In conjunction with the Bronxville PD, a safe space (on the front lawn on Pondfield) will be provided where staff will be available to supervise students.

Finally, we continuously monitor and review our security procedures through meetings and consultations with the local PD, experts in the field as well as our district safety committee. Please know that this remains fluid, and I ask for your cooperation and feedback to further ensure we create the best and safest environment for our students and staff. I encourage everyone to be alert, and if you see something, say something. The safety of our students and staff remains a top priority, and I look forward to continuing the discussion on this important topic.

Sincerely,

Roy R. Montesano Ed.D.
Bronxville Superintendent

Pictured here:  Superintendent Roy R. Montesano.

Photo courtesy The Bronxville School

Editor's note:  As a public service, MyhometownBronxville publishes press releases, statements, and articles from local institutions, legislators, and candidates. MyhometownBronxville does not fact-check statements therein, and any opinions expressed therein do not necessarily reflect the thinking of its staff.