Uh it's August 13th and I am come to order for the security safety committee security meeting. Uh and first uh pledge allegiance to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it
stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Tennisville, myself, Anthony Kajiano with uh Miss Milles and Mr. John Kingston. Also, we have here is Mayor
Keef, Chief Lvidita, and uh Lor >> Sergeant Turner, >> Georgia Turner. And also from the fire department, we got Lieutenant Liry
and Yes. Okay. And we have also here Council Anthony Pavliano and we have one of our SRO, Brian. uh we're going to conduct the meeting at the beginning is we're going to have uh guide posts do their presentation
presentation each uh each PowerPoint the committee will be able to ask questions once they're done with their PowerPoint presentation the public can ask any question they may need anything that goes on with the individual schools we're going to be going for an executive
session afterwards so if you're looking or asking questions about individual schools that will be done in executive session Any questions? You have us. Yeah, thank you. So, u great to be here everybody. My name is
John Delina. I'm a senior managing director at Guidepost Solutions. Um Vicid, born and raised. Um which really why I'm so proud of this project. Um my career was spent with the United States government. I spent 30 years with the
Drug Enforcement Administration. I was in law enforcement for a couple years before that. Um, and I've been with Guide Post for a little over a year now. Um, you know, this opportunity to do work in in you know what is my home.
Uh, and you know, I attended the Beachmont School as I told everybody here probably too much that they wanted to hear. I was part of the first class that was walked into the Beach School. So, I take a lot of pride uh in the schools here and in the work that's being done. Uh and before my partner
introduces himself, I'll just say that um you know this whole project has been a great opportunity. We met with some tremendous people. We should be very proud. U the people, you know, that are in these schools. They they really did welcome us with open arms, answered all
of our questions, and uh I think we did, you know, we did a very thorough job based on what you asked us to do. We're going to get into a lot of that today. It's a lot to digest. You got a big report in front of you. I don't expect you know you to be able to go through everything uh but we'll work with you and get everything answered that we can
and now pass off to my department. >> Oh, thank you. Michael Beerstone, senior consultant with Guide Coast. My background also is uh military and and working with different government agencies domestic and abroad.
I I also want to say thank you for the uh partnership and participation that we received, the hospitality while we carried this out was extremely helpful. Um I know that Richie was with us uh during our site visits and all of our interviews, but everybody's willingness
to sit down and speak with us and answer our questions and show us things to demonstrate responses to some of our questions was extremely helpful in what we were doing to people. So really do appreciate it. Uh I'll probably first start off by just making sure that you
make clear here in case there was any misunderstanding or or thought to the contrary that um we did not perform an audit. We were not auditing any of the schools safety and security measures, processes, programs, resources or tools
any checklist. Okay. nor did we test. We weren't testing how a video feed was coming across in so much as how it was being received um under inclement weather or at night or whether it was being received at all. Uh the integrity
of the infrastructure. What we did do was review very holistically all of those things. So we did touch on them. We did look to observe them and we did ask questions regarding them and asked for um where available uh documentation
or evidence to support what it was that we were looking to try to understand and learn. You can go ahead. Thank you. >> Before we start, I just like I got a text was also watching this. So,
this is what she's here. >> So, we've broken the PowerPoint, this brief, it's a highle brief um and down into a number of key sections. And what we're doing here is we're just letting you know what the order of those sections are. We'll get into the meat of things as we move along. Uh mind you at
just again as Anthony mentioned um while we're discussing and presenting uh the information that you're also going to be seeing on the slides at the end of each slide or for that matter if anything comes to mind you wish to ask a question by all means just ask us we'll respond
as best as we can. Go ahead Diane. Let's see. So this is the slide that Guidepost likes to make sure that we present to everybody. We do this during the initiation of any of our engagements. We do this during presentations and we speak to it in any of our work products.
What it is what it is inferring is that we hold ourselves to a very high level, a high standard. Uh and we come into these type of projects without any pre preconceived notions. We have no positions one way or another about how anybody is doing something or not doing
something. All right? And we go about it that way only so much as to make sure that the product at the end is at face value uh factual in its presentation that there's no embellishment or changes or alteration. We also Michael if I may
we also don't sell any problem. We don't rep any specific company. Um you know if we're talking about cameras we don't have a dog in the fight. We we're not going to tell you you know which camera is better than another. We're not trying to sell an app or or anything else. That's not our job.
Yes sir. Thank you. You go ahead. So this slide is demonstrating uh at a very high level the different layers of protection, safety and security that we uh worked to look into. The image you see there is an image that is found and
often used by the partnership um alliance for safety and security who recently just came out with an updated guide with respect to um security at school through a K through2 school. And these five layers of security were have
been identified within industry by DHS and others and are commonly looked at in such a way as to provide a roadmap when one is going about to look at develop for or adjust various safety and security processes. Uh and that's what
we did here. And you'll note the very first bullet there districtwide that was where we first started. Uh we first started with first of course understanding the district understanding the river public schools uh how it is made up where it sits uh how it supports
or looks to support its its staff and faculty and its principles and others alike. You can go ahead next one. This slide is a little bit more detailed as to where it was that we actually
looked and this is how our product was also generated in so much as the information that we presented uh the reports. We looked into physical security equipment and technology. We looked into school security personnel. When we say security personnel, that of
course also includes I should say that includes whether it's a third party security service, whether it's a direct higher security operation or whether it's um school resource officers, law enforcement. We looked at uh policies and procedures.
We looked at policies and procedures from the district and we looked at policies and procedures as they may exist at each individual school. We looked at the site, the building, the property and its design. When we looked at the schools and all of them, we
looked at uh where they sat, the elevation of the property, local landscape, perimeter, physical perimeter control. We looked at drive, roadway systems. We looked at uh angles of the school building exterior itself. We
looked for uh concealable spaces and things like that. And we just give an example or some examples. Emergency management. We looked at emergency management from a planning, preparedness, response, recovery and management process with respect first
from the district level and then down to each individual school. So we were looking at emergency operations plans. We were looking at uh as the next bullet indicates training processes, exercises, drills and so forth.
The two key things to keep um cognizant of here with respect to this particular slide are the last two bullets. Today's K through2 threat environment and national strategies. The the threat environment is dynamic and evolving and
incidents today of course are theoretent and they're devastating and it's just it's it's not something anybody ever wishes to have to deal with. Um and as a result of the current K through2 threat environment, there is a plethora of
standards, guidelines, recommendations, best practices, and lessons learned coming from uh the industry itself, which also includes the federal government. Um, one of the things that we made sure that we did while we were going through this safety and security
review was to maintain uh our cognizance of the threat environment, but also to the daunting amount of information that's out there regarding best practices and guidelines and lessons learned. So, you go to the
next slides, next one. So I mentioned at the beginning that we did not audit or test. Uh what this slide is speaking to is exactly what we did do though which is that we explored uh the awareness of in place safety and
security by all participant all staff members and administrators within RPS. We reviewed internal partnerships and in place approaches with respect to how all of those individuals communicate with one another. how they support one
another, how they work together in planning and preparing for um whether it's to develop a new policy or whether it's to assess an existing policy or if it's to plan for an unfortunate possible event. We reflected on a number of
different data sources and other uh re we did a lot of open source research. We did a lot of review of RPS documentation that was provided to us. We actually had provided a menu of items which probably at first glance was like, "Wow, that's a
lot." But um it was we were able we provided that information and spent a good deal of time uh reviewing it. And when we did review it, it wasn't just based any um uh interpretation of that wasn't just based on an individual
reader. We actually discussed it. uh we mold over and we followed up with questions back to RPS to make sure that what we were believing we were reading and understanding was in fact correct the way it's being presented um of all the other uh bullets there the
second to the last one wanted to make sure that we were encompassing the spirit and intent of national strategies based on but not limited to lessons learned from school incidents and other experiences. So we did not come at this taking into
consideration and taking a look at functions and operations of the schools like they were in Edison or with the mayor being present like it was city hall. We looked at them as schools. We looked at them with respect to school incidents and the dynamic uh and everin
environment as it exists. doesn't mean that things still can't happen that would perhaps be atypical or asymmetrical, but we did what we could to make sure that we stayed on tariffs. So, this is the meat of the presentation. Most of pretty much what
everybody here is most interested in. Uh so the way that this is going to we're going to present this is that this first slide talks about the district which is on the whole how we looked how what we found with respect to the uh district then the next
slides that follow on will get very uh more we'll get more particular but it will regard the schools on the whole. So the first one here, we want to make sure we've acknowledged this already, but just to say it again, it we were never
not faced with the expression by all the administrators and teachers and the participants as to how important safety and security is to them. um which was obviously as I had mentioned demonstrated by their openness and their
their participation and and wanting to be able to even ask us if we were interested in looking at other things or seeing something else that perhaps we hadn't asked about. Uh we will say that uh the district has some good security features and technologies. We caveat
that though by noting that while there are some good features and technologies, they're not well integrated and at times they're not consistently used and also too perhaps managed according to any set policies or procedure. These are easy fixes though
um at least the consistently being used and the set following policies or procedures. The integration bit may take a slight bit of work and you'll understand that in order to move on a little but right now there does not yet exist a
district-wide security plan. Now what what we will say is that there are security provisions and requirements that do exist and they are found in RPS documents. What we are talking about here is a single specific district-wide
security plan. It would take that information that may exist in other resources and repeat it in this single plan. But then the plan would also be further fleshed out and include additional uh information, processes and procedures.
And then that plan would be for lack of a better description the Bible through which the rest of this all the other schools would in fact operate with respect to security. The uh the schools do have emergency operations plans but right now those
plans uh do not align with what is referred to as a highquality emergency operations plan. So while those plans are effective and how they're being used, they have worked. we are not aware of nor have we learned that they haven't worked. What we have identified is that
uh there there is a guideline a template that's been out there by um uh schools safety.gov and it's been recognized by the industry and developed by the white house and six or seven different federal agencies in fact titled highquality emergency operation
plans for school. The thing about that plan which is different, I shouldn't say the thing, pardon me. The provisions of that plan that are different than what exists right now within RPS is that it is very formalized and structured and starts out with what is considered basic plan provisions. Then it goes into what
are called the essential uh security features, support features. The basic plan talks about what the plan is, how it's developed, how it's reviewed, how it's updated, how it's trained against, who's responsible for
it. Um, the essential support features talk about here's what we are doing with respect to how we are making sure that we have identified how to obtain the resources we need when we need them, meaning during an event. Here are the responsible personnel for an emergency
at the district level. Here are the responsible personnel for an emergency at this school at that school. It provides a template from the district's perspective to issues and provide the schools to complete for themselves thereby ensuring a consistent
development of an emergency operations plan and a consistent out of the gate approach to responding to emergencies. The other thing about these this plan is that it talks about training, how often that training is conducted, the type of training that's conducted, how the plan
is tested, and then of course we're all familiar with afteraction reports, how those tests and training events occurred, what was learned, what was good, what do we need to work on, and then seeing that that happens, updating
and maybe developing something a new. That's what the high quality emergency operation uh at a very high level talk uh speak what it speaks to and what it presents and we did provide information to be able to go to this particular uh
guidance document so you can actually RPS can see it and use it as a template uh as they continue to move forward with uh developing their own by following EOP for the district and then for each of their individual schools. Uh we did note that there is uh there
are drills that occur enhanced drills which is um a drill that is coordinated with river uh PD and others with respect to um how to respond to particular type of incidents including active threat
incidents. Uh we understand that uh we have come to learn that that happens pretty frequently. It actually happens uh a number of times a year and which in effect ensures that each school is um
being subjected to or participating in I should say an enhanced drill every other year which is a positive. That's good. Um we do understand that RPS has a bullion program a pretty robust bullion reporting program which also addresses
harassment and discrimination. What we've identified, what we identified that was not in place that RPS has indicated that already to us that they are working to uh develop such a program as a bystander reporting program. A
bystander reporting program is a new term is a recently new term that is being used uh that is being promoted uh within the industry and by the government and not just for schools but also for communities that police departments are also supporting as well
too. A by a bystander reporting program is more robust. It offers multiple venues of how to report an issue or a concern. Examples would be online, a text, anonymous, phone, a f a form, whatever
the case might be. But it's there's it's every type of communication method that you might have available to you that you can incorporate in such a way that you can receive things that are coming in. Those are the different reporting mechanisms that that are being used. It
is not just about bullying. It is not just about harassment. It is also about reporting concerning behaviors. that is about reporting concerning observations. I was in class sitting next to John and for the last couple weeks I see that he keeps drawing guns on this piece of
paper or um you know I'm pretty familiar with how John is at school and you know he's changing his dress you know he's starting to look more goth he's starting to become more seclude he's not eating those type of things uh are what are
included in bystander reporting program that would be to be reported to which then goes to the Next bullet reported to within what is referred to as a behavioral threat assessment and management program or BTAM.
A VM is a comprehensive program that takes those reports, takes issues of incidents, takes concerns and then evaluates that not punitive for punitive reasons but for um to restore to support
to to to fix if you will or to help. Um, at the same time, uh, it the a B10 is a program that continues to move all the way forward in a step-by-step process to where it doesn't always just end after
an issue has been brought to the B10 uh, program. It may be monitored. The individual may be the situation may be monitored. And there is a process to that. Someone's responsible for monitoring. someone's responsible for presenting what was being found during the monitoring back to the rest of the
team and that team is the TAP it's the next B the threat assessment team it's a multi-disiplinary team who they are the specific members who operate within the B10 they are the ones responsible for performing the different B10 processes
they're also the ones responsible for always staying on top of the school climate and culture in so much as looking ahead and seeing What other policies might we look to try to develop? What other support programs can we try to initiate with standup? What maybe have other districts done if
they've had this type of issue or problem before? Uh that's what the TAD is. So I'll I'll wrap this slide up by saying that uh on the last slide, the district has a number of resources and programs that are already in place to support a positive potential to support
a safe and secure environment. Um so we uh at the district level we found that we heard that there was an interest and a dedicated uh position on safety and security and then we saw evidence on any questions.
I'll just jump in then Michael maybe just the last point on that the BTAM and the TAT are national standards right it's what we're seeing now industry life >> yes I'm sorry so BTAMS and TATS are the
last stat I received um that I heard was approaching 70% of schools and school districts districts are now standing up B tiers >> and if I can just add just in the conversation that we've had over the last several weeks. We have a lot of
these pieces in place. I'm going to go back to the comment that Mike made earlier. It's the structure around them and writing down this is how they're related. Like Anthony, we had talked about the bi-weekly SRO meetings that we have and how we bring issues to the
SRO's when we're aware of a student who's approaching some kind of crisis that they can monitor in the community. They bring information to us when they're seeing something in the community so that we can provide resources in the school. But it's writing that all down and umbrelling all of that so that there's an
organizational structure around it and and when we encounter a student like that instead of us just having a conversation at the bi-weekly SRO meeting and maybe Richie or I take it back to the school social worker and the principal so that they can work on it, we have that written down. So there's an
actual policy and procedure that we're following and whether that involves in in involving the students in a restorative practices circle or um getting them additional work on the regular with a social worker or even providing outside resources through uh
North Sopic or um whatever we need to do to try to really build supports around that student before they hit a crisis point. And even though we're doing these things in different little venues, writing it down and organizing it all will make us all implement it better. Is
that a good summary? >> Yes. Yeah, that's that's very good. Thank you. So, yes, we did we did discuss that and and we did discuss as Diane mentioned just to confirm is that um the number of resources and programs and tools that you have in place are a
lot and they're they're great. What we posited and it was agreed to is that assimilate that have some sort of overarching assimilation of these things. Have somebody one or two when I say somebody when we say somebody could be a team of two or whatever actually
manage and stay on top of it. Take advantage of these programs and the successes that these programs are are uh demonstrating and presenting to you. use data to show how well they're working, which data that I'm sure perhaps the merit might be interested in seeing at
times and and you know your constituents would be interested in seeing. Here are the programs. We have this under one umbrella that's being managed. We're tracking it and here's the results which also allows you the ability to make
changes to enhance whatever that program is to get yet better results. I also don't want to forget the report the bystander reporting program isn't about somebody reporting for somebody else. It's also about the individual themselves. So having trust in the
school and having trust in the system allows me to be able to perhaps use that reporting program just to say that I could use the help. um maybe I'm not so comfortable that I can approach a teacher or another faculty or
administrative presenter and maybe I would use this to be able to present or at least know where to go. So one thing I wanted to ask was I know about the the enhanced drills for example for myself I was with John at the time in the Garfield someone called in there was an
empty shooter and the kids filed in line and off they off they went everything was done perfectly but the funny part is is there's me and John going where do we go so the point is is do we have any type of training or is there anything trained maybe the police can help so if
there's an active shooter in the know what to do. For example, if they're coming through the door, >> the visitors know what to do. >> So, do we have anything like that in place or is there any type of training or the police can assist? >> Will it be for administration even the students and stuff?
>> So, so first, you know, maybe uh the superintendent can answer, you know, I want to see where you guys are at with that and then I'll defer to the chief and and to the PD on on that. Then we'll just we can come in last on that answer. talk about what trainings are out there
uh you know industrywide. >> Does the police have any type of training when it comes to an active shooter inside the school? I mean for maybe for administration. >> We do we do train all administrators, all staff, teachers, other staff,
students, we all get trained. But I think you're hitting on a good point, Anthony. We don't have anything for a visitor, whether it's you guys or a parent who's here to pick up a child. >> But actually, if they're coming through the door Yeah. You know, so what is the what does the teacher I mean they
everybody files in great everything is done perfection. Yeah. But when it gets to a bit more of an extreme point >> Yeah. >> what do they do? Do the kids know what to do? Do the teachers know what to do? >> So one of the aspects that's universal in any type of command like in your case
this would be a lock done. When we get the class or whoever gets the class teacher, they are supposed to do a quick check and encumber. Anybody that might be a visitor or not know what's going on or a student that's going to the bathroom. If
my if I'm a teacher and my classroom is right next to the bathroom, I take a peek just before I shut and lock my door. So, that encumber point is supposed to gather everyone that might be, you know, not familiar with our command. Can I jump in real quick? Yeah. Um like
just understand so the national standard for like they did there's various programs that schools can use and I think from Alice the crates and all that stuff alert any of these programs one of the big things is that knowledge of the event like knowledge the event location of the issue and things like that and it's
basically like alert it's one of their very first parts of the accident is alert people like let them know I mean for Alice it's alert notify everybody what's going on and where it is at that point it becomes a self-s survival moment you where the issue is, what the issue is, and you need to take, you
know, precautions and steps to avoid that problem and get away from that problem. The schools, if there was an actual like event like that, they're going to be broadcasting that out and saying, "We have something here, this location, and the teachers will go into their train, they'll follow the train protocols being knowledgeable of that. You as somebody that's an outside of the
building, you're just going to react um with that knowledge. Now, in regards to you being a part of the city, being a staff of the city and you worked at the city, there are programs there. While we have school active threat response programs, there are uh civilian active threat response programs that are out there. Some civilians take them on their
own. And some cities do that is something that the city could do in the future. They could do training for all city employees on what to do in an active threat event. So, there's various depths of that training they could do. So again, one of the big steps is alerting everybody saying, "Hey, this is where it is, what it is." Then you have
to take the steps for them. >> But again, if I can jump in, impossible to train every parent that might be here to pick up if the child is sick. Um, but imperative that as as we are doing, getting staff properly trained to kind
of take that leadership role in um helping out to evacuate or whatever, you know, react to the circumstances properly. Your issue actually brought up is something that's a common it's a common issue that's discussed as hospitals is the big one. Hospitals had a big issue with knowledge of all public
parties inside of what was going on. They used to use codes that's now staunchly advocated against using a color code. So that like one person used silver or whatever saying there was a person armed in the building. Well when I'm going to visit my mom who's sick I don't know what that is. So now they use more we call plain
speak. Plane speak is more. It's is a national thing, but you know, we can't put a big sign on every single door that says if there's an active shooter in the school, you should do this. >> Well, it's just like when you see a situation, Jud going to run away from it or you run towards it. You know what I'm saying? So, Anthony, the last thing I'll
say on that sort of stepping back at a much higher level, and I'm sure the chief and DD, the fire department will agree, training is just paramount, right? There's nothing more important than training. And there was an incident recently uh at Florida State University after the shooter. And um the
thing that really stuck with me uh watching what happened as a result of that they were interviewing with several administrators, teachers, and even kids is one thing they said is everybody sort of did what they had to do because they've all been trained so much. You know, some of those kids had actually
been in school shootings. um some of them had been in uh Parkland during Stone Douglas and we'll talk a little bit more when we get into the next session about that. But um you know they knew what to do. So training training training was important and you know you were just somebody that wasn't part of
the training right but as you referenced the in the Alice training I people sort of go into that mode you know that's why we train for those incidents >> and I'll I'll probably wrap it up by saying that we talked about emergency operation plans and training. What we're also going to be talking about here is
is um visitor management. So unlike a hospital, people just can't walk into a school and start to mill about. They should be attended to and escorted by a staffman who should be trained and well-versed on
how to respond should there be some sort of an incident where a notification is sent out. We talk about communications as well too. So within a school environment at least these days, nobody should be walking around your school unless they get escorted or they're in
fact an employee staff member. If they're being escorted, that staff member who when meets them can just easily say, look, should anything happen, follow my lead, stay with me, >> and just be given direct commandments.
So, if you're a visitor coming wherever you are, as soon as you get inside the doors and are met by the staff member who's escorting you, you should be able to respond by way of guidance and instruction by whomever you're escorting. >> Go ahead.
So, now we're going to talk about the schools on the whole. So, you have 11 schools at eight locations. Couple of your schools actually occupy the same building. They're just of course separated by way of of grade level and
other type of things. As Bob just uh the first topic that we're going to speak to is security equipment and technology in particular access control and alarm monitoring. All of your schools are equipped with proximity readers. Does everyone here know what a proximity reader is? It's
just a device where you're holding a fob or a card up to it. You're not swiping. You're not inserting. You're not entering the income. These readers are in fact located at all of your operationally defined doors. We
differentiate an operational door from an emergency door. Operational doors, that's the door that you come in and out of on a regular basis for regular operational purposes. And emergency doors should only be used when exiting
under the conditions of an emergency. I said I tell you that going to the next part of the sentence. Door contacts for monitoring the status of exterior doors emergency and operational are also in exist existence. A door contact it's
it's like a husband wife um design that is tied into an electronic system that tells you when that door is open, when it's been pushed open, pulled open or when it's been held. Your schools have those door contacts in place. those and you also have uh video
intercom devices near some of your key operational doors. Those vid video intercom devices I as a visitor walk up to the main entrance. I hit the button is buzzing into the school actually going to a desk that's staffed by one of
your security personnel who has a monitor in front of them where the camera on the video intercom is now showing my handsome mug. Um, the operational doors are physically staffed by school staff members, school
security team when the doors are being used during arrival and departure. That's a key note here because not all of your staff have a fob or a prox card that allows them to access into the school by way of that access
control device. Access control is managed pretty tightly. So when particularly during high traffic times like arrivals and departures, students coming and going, teachers coming and going, your staff member and security team actually stand at those doors to
make sure that those folks coming in are those folks who are supposed to be coming in. Anybody else's is held up and moved to the side where different communication coordination occurs. That's a positive. The majority of the schools do not however have panic or
duress alone devices in place. When we talk about panic and duress alarm devices to make it easy the easiest way to understand it's like a a bank alarm button you see that you see in movies that bank tellers hit where they're being robbed. It's the same type of thing we're talking about static
panic or duress devices at key locations within the school. What would be a key location? The the principal's office, >> the assistant principal's office, the guidance counselor's office, the nurse's office. uh we do identify what some of those key locations might be as well
too. Now, let me make clear, not all schools don't have panic duress devices. There there were a couple of schools that in fact do have a couple of panic and duress devices. >> We'll get into that in the other session. >> Um, and that's a good thing. We we did speak to that. We do attention to it. We did note that perhaps maybe there may be
additional devices that might be considered to be installed. Well, the next thing is that we talk about the emergency exit doors are locked to control external access and are often equipped with internal local audible alarm devices. So, what are we
talking about there? The doors are locked from the outside by a key, a manual locking key. Okay? There's no access control devices on it. The internal audible alarm is you probably you hear it some your fire alarm at home. It's an audible alarm.
It's devices that are set up right at the emergency exit door that if it's opened that's going to alarm. It's a local audible alarm. So of course one needs to consider where is that door in relation to where is everybody else when that alarm goes off. Um so those are
some of the things that we looked at. Um the thing too is that the internal local alarm system and devices are silenced during the day. You have a third monitoring service company that is monitoring those contacts we spoke about
at all of your doors after hours. When the school is actually operating that service, the alarm panel silences the alarms. Now your doors don't have those being read by the monitoring company. The
other thing that we found of interest too is that, and we put it in quotes here, request to exit devices, also known as Rex devices, were found at operational and emergency exit doors, including at doors that have push box. So, a Rex device is uh you know, when
you're at an airport and you're walking through some sort of a glass door and it just automatically opens for you, that's because a device read you approaching it. Same thing at hospitals. We found Rex devices at your operational and emergency exit doors. What those
things do is unlock the door. They unlock the door and they also can sometimes silence the alarm. So, we just wanted to make sure that we drew that to your attention. Even still, some of the emergency doors not only had did they have a Rex device, they also had the emergency push bar on to get
out. So there is perhaps some uh this is just an example of one particular design scenario that we came across that might be looked at and altered changed. Now are there any questions about any of this on this
slide? >> Um quick question. Can I just I don't know if I heard you correctly. Did you say it was the third party who deactivates the internal Yeah. >> codes during the school? >> No, it's a it's it's an alarm panel. It's an alarm system here at the school
that RPS personnel have codes for. When they arrive, they turn the alarm system off. They silence it. >> When they depart at night, they activate it. >> It's at night when it's activated that the third party monitoring service sees it's being it's been activated and now
they monitor for alarms. >> And some of that I'm sorry, some some of that, you know, then maybe a little further discussion in the next session. So it's not quite LED. >> Yes. Yes sir. >> Aren't fobs better than keys? At least the fob you can track who came in, who came out.
>> The system, if it's designed in that way, can track who came in and came out. >> Because I find keys to be problematic because people can make keys. Even if the keys that say you can't reproduce, someone can. >> FOBs and keys are almost very similar in in the management and control of them.
Uh fobs are more expensive than a hard key. uh and depending on the prox reader as well too regard it depends on the fob is only as good as the reader as well in so much as if it's a a dual authenticating reader meaning I present
and it reads back versus just reading me because if it's just reading the fob or reading the box card those are easily cl way we kind of look at it with keys versus fobs keys fine motor skill under stress we you FPS fs are quick uh and
dummy proof under stress difficulty getting that key in there because >> I just know what the credit union if I f into say the vault room it's telling me you know John Kingston went in at 9:02 into the vault room where if it's just a key yeah this cameras and stuff they can go backtrack but it's more of a you know
it was more of a log creative >> so a bank a bank system is going to be extremely sophisticated in that regard I would also suspect too that you have cameras that are watching you come and wheel it's small too it's capturing images
>> I'm just thinking after hours or something like that you know this I don't know how many keys are out there and I don't know that we know how many keys are actually out there and like I said keys can easily be you know um keys can easily be um duplicated even keys that say don't duplicate I've seen
people have them duplicated yes >> yes sir so still under security equipment and technology video surve surveillance. All schools do have video surveillance cameras in installed. Um we we noted though that the video
surveillance systems uh are not do not also include edgebased analytics or artificial intelligence. Uh what that is is is the camera has software and the ability to detect uh movement, direction
of travel, color, display of a weapon, congregating to people, uh somebody falling down, um all those different type of things. So um we it's not atypical for schools not to have that yet but it is becoming far more typical
for schools to research and invest and incorporate edgebased into analytics artificial intelligence. >> I'm sorry I'm jumping again. I he I need to jump on this because he's hitting an unbelievable point. That technology the
casino has that technology. A person can have the weapon, the firearm in their waistband with a shirt cover, program and pick it up and it does a very good job. It immediately alerts to those that have like the access the phone, whatever. It sends out an alert
immediately as soon as they pass the scanner and the officers are immediately able to get on that person. I know of uh several officers I work with regionally who work at the casino and it's an unbelievable tool. So I just want to make sure I jump on that to the parties in this room right now that that technology is expensive but uh it's
unbel and for the future these are things you definitely should be thinking of it also you know will alert to a crowd that's a fight and then the cameras will stay with that whether it's running it'll follow those people the way that's how we see on TV there's a fight at a sports
venue or something they they zoom right in they know exactly what's going on it's not somebody with the mouse doing the you know the the camera's doing the work for you. So there's a lot of potential there and it's something as you move forward. >> NYPD currently runs science reproduction. >> No, we've already been engaging with the
companies Motorola technology with that similar to what plane park uses >> to um you know again it's it's a >> oh yeah funding sources are always in the value but of course how you value the schools. So >> the softwares you can use
>> system engage in >> it's it's it's probably just it's probably not one you know sort of one >> less uh I can finish the slide. >> Oh yeah. >> Okay. So um one of the things that we
the video surveillance systems are not actively monitored. So uh but what unfortunately what you're left with right here right now is that uh the video surveillance is a great tool but you are mostly able to use it for forensic purposes. Uh meaning that you can use it to go back and see what
happened and when and who may have been involved with. Um they can be actively monitored but frankly right now you don't have the infrastructure means to be able to do so. that is not a negative that is just uh so much is to be able to
actively monitor the students. Now I will also caveat this as well too to say that uh we did find a couple of schools where possible have begun to use their security personnel to watch and moni
uh PD has a space where they also have the ability to also look at some of the video feeds as well too. I I was just going to make that one clarification is that we do have security staff who actively monitor the cameras at our larger buildings,
but it's not consistent and uniform. >> Anything else? >> Um, just to let you know real quick, I'll paraphrase. So, we found a number of different type of camera devices. So, we we wanted to make sure that we brought that to your attention as well, too. We found a number of different type
camera devices. We also found a number of cameras that were inoperable and difficult to maintain. Um, and the last point just speaks to how uh not every school has 360 degree coverage of their exterior, which is
usually something that we try to strive for in recent times. to the superintendent. The system had a a problem years ago and the monitors the cameras were actually
useless. They couldn't identify what took place. They couldn't have any part of it. has the system has all the systems been upgraded at least um somewhat current that they're usable. >> So, we do have a number of um cameras
that we have been replacing over recent years and we the school committee did approve in their budget a significant amount this year um to continue to replace uh cameras that haven't been working. Um, one of the pieces and the chief can uh maybe speak to this a
little bit, but we had done a grant with uh in collaboration with the police department a few years back and were required to purchase a particular kind of camera that turned out not to be uh a very sustainable camera. I'll say it's not a polite way to put it.
the jack grant and the restriction was significant in regards to where you could buy it from and that was all kind of speed mod >> and um so those those are the cameras that have been failing over the last couple of years but um thankfully the committee did in the budgeting process
include several hundred dollars to start working on the replacement of um those cameras and I believe we are pursuing another branch with the police department to to help with that as well that I I don't know if I'm going >> Yeah, I think you went ahead. >> Yeah, I think I was trying to go back
and it was just going forward, but >> intrusion detection slide 15. There it is. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Okay, so here we're we're uh we're still on the security equipment and technology. I believe this is the last
slide that we've got about security. So, uh, just it's just repeating that all schools do have door contact devices that are in place and being monitored. Um, we also know here though that all schools also have motion detection devices inside their schools at strategic locations
as well too. Um, one of the things that we identified which uh speaks to the uh systems on the whole is that they we found that they weren't integrated. What we mean by integrated, we kind of spoke about it before, John, when we were talking about a banking
system, is that u the readers are not integrated with the CCTV system and the IDS system in so much as if one is sitting at a monitor or watching this system. When something happens, all of it goes up. A camera comes up, pulls up
an image of the location, the alarm comes up, shows you where it's happening. um that an integrated system with a single platform provides for greater management and control for less costs and greater efficiency and operations and dispatching and
responding. So we we only noted that they're not integrated right now. Uh but the school the superintendent others have indicated that this is something that they're also that they've begun to look at as well too is how to integrate and where to leap off from which goes
back to your question sir about have we started to look at new cameras. The answer is yes. They have a one school uh that does in fact have a very current system which has a lot of capability to it where we have talked to look at it as perhaps a launching point towards
assimilating all other schools and getting onto a middle grading plan. >> Thank you. >> Um we already talked about monitoring uh the classroom features. All doors are manually key locked and unlocked. Uh I
know that the sergeant spoke earlier about how um using keys can be cumbersome and cause issues and may break. That's absolutely true. We don't disagree with that at all. There is debate within industry whether to continue to use manual key locks for
electronic locking systems on classroom doors. We did not u make mention or look to promote the consideration of making all classroom doors conform with access control system electronic locks. Uh there's there's pros and cons to that.
We can discuss that later. Uh what we do talk about though is that uh all the classrooms have a single motion manual flip lock that they use which by the way follows Commonwealth guidelines. They
also some schools have emergency kits. We do talk about having um more robust emergency kits. Um and also to the schools do have laminated placards with respect to um emergency action terms and
what procedures to take uh and also assembly areas. That information is also found on the back of um uh RPS staff ID cards which is which is great. We we we do note that we do speak later on with
with regards to actual emergency action guides or flip books which is more robust uh includes the same type of information at lensome and also uh directly coincides with provisions of an EOP and supports ongoing training in the
war but we'll talk about that as well too >> and I'll just add that's something that um we used to have years ago when I was teaching and it wasn't something that you grabbed in the heat of a moment when something was going on, but it was something that you'd you'd have on your desk and you'd occasionally look at it
and it would just remind you of uh you know, we talked about the ongoing training and ongoing um exercises that we do, but just having it there every now and then you'd be like, "What do I do then?" And you'd flip to that page and refresh. >> Is that similar to and I know that the you mentioned hospitals and changed the
color coding system, but you go into some of those larger buildings. I worked with some logic facilities where you would have the the red, the green, all the different color codes and have the details per Yeah. >> per call out. >> The tabs the tabs would be differently
colored. Yes, sir. For PZ grasping, but not necessarily >> they could be attributed to red tab like for fire, active threat, blue to, you know, storm or whatever the case might be. But obviously, they would have to be visually distinct in such a way that I could easily see what I need to go to
and move to it. We'll go a few minutes. >> Go ahead, Ben. We've talked about this in our description of other observations and findings. The district has security the district also has SRF uh and there's a great relationship there. Um the
district is reviewing its current security staffing models uh in respect to the roles and responsibilities that they are looking for from them uh to make sure that they uh are are meeting what their own uh desires or expectations are. So that is something
that's ongoing. Uh school maintenance will at times perform uh security functions on behalf of RPS and that is primarily found during after school activity events. So during the day, each
school has a an RPS security person or more on site at each school. There are SRO's that have an MOA. Obviously RPD has an MOA with RPS, which aligns with the Commonwealth's model guideline
document. Not that it has to, but it does. Um the SRO's move about all of the schools on a very regular basis. Um, and they actually do maintain a pretty steady, if not constant, basis at a couple of key schools. So, they I don't
want to take away from what you you know, far more than what you guys do, but of the matter is is they're extremely visible. They move around. They make constant contact and they also maintain their presence as best as they can given their numbers. Not uh to be
received as a good, bad or different observation. No. Um so there are security personnel and there are very clearly defined security functions that are happening within each of the schools at all eight locations. >> Uh security policies and procedures. Uh
the uh we talked earlier about a a overarching single security plan. So RPS does require that all staff members wear their ID on their person when they are on property. Um, and we found that
everybody understands that, but at times there may not have been 100% compliance with that. Um, so that's just something to be looked at which would be better supported with regards to a provision inside of a
security plan is actively being monitored and enforced for that description. >> And I just want to highlight that's adults that we're talking about, >> correct? One thing I wanted to ask was
as far as for security as we have the most probably in any a lot of cities and towns when you have an officer or you private security in every location is it more would you consider being more
safe if you had someone there? I know it's hard to say, but like sometimes we I know between staff and costs, we have four more than any of us, but any cities and towns. Maybe we could look at not paying the waves that we
normally pay, but have possibly retired police officers. I'm just >> in addition to or >> in addition, I was just because we're I'll I'll talk about it at the end of the meeting. We will be putting together
a committee consisting of the school committee, fire, police, and everything. And that's something I wanted to I've already talked to some of my colleagues about is where we do have retired ones. And it's and it's not so much as just have someone there to build rapport with
the students to see them every day. And I know like I said costwise is is a factor as well as regular staff. And that's why we I was always thinking about retirement funds, >> right? No, it's definitely an option um to be considered. >> We could talk more about I'm just I'm
just throwing that open. >> The training would be a piece of that too. >> For example, like you know how you just retired, you know, if the cost would be have someone who's already been trained, who's already knows the students, who's always
familiar with the school system. I'm just using her as an example. >> Yeah. >> And something like that. >> Yeah. No, it's an interesting proposition for sure. And and obviously um everybody's used to doing more with less, right? >> Doing more with more is is better, right? To answer your question up front,
having more is is better. Now, caveat, it's got to be the right people, right? Um, Angela, yeah, visibility, having people that are out interacting, you know, creating a safe environment, you know, so that you not only determine something that may go wrong, but also,
you know, the students here will feel welcome to approach and and have a conversation with and know that that's exactly what you want to strive for. So, go with more, you know, to answer your simple question up front, that's not trying to take away from anybody, right?
It's just a yeah of safety in >> I'm gonna just mention the time because we're at 10 o'clock with both sides to >> I have a question before we move to this side. >> While the fire department's here, my concerns, one of my concerns has always been the connecting doors and the way
our schools are built um if you get into one room say a teacher inadvertently honest mistake just didn't lock their door. Now, with the passing door, the connecting doors, you could potentially get into six classrooms, say in a long car, I was told, and not by a fire person directly, but I was told that we
can't lock those doors because it's a fire issue. But to me, that's a big security issue because you're allowing access to that whole car because those doors aren't locked. And none of those doors are locked as far. Some of them are, you know, almost petitions even more than, you know, wood walls, but
none of those doors are locked. I didn't know if that was a fire code or not a fire code, but that's an issue if you went to say the whale and I think it's six rooms in a row. >> So, one thing to be careful of is given too much detail about >> Yeah. >> Well, it's in the it's here. That's why
I didn't think it was at the school. >> But I will say, John, just to generally answer your question, we we have we work with the police and the fire. Um, uh, Lieutenant Olri does inspections of our buildings four times a year. They identify anything that is a violation of
fire code and we address it immediately. So, >> I didn't mean we weren't I didn't say we weren't following the fire code. I'm wondering can we lock those doors? That's my question because those doors >> but but my answer to your question is we need fire code. >> Think that answers my question. Is it a
fire code that we can't lock the doors? That's one question. children. I >> We can't answer that question. >> No, I I'm not I'm asking question. >> What we can say though is that what you do with your classroom doors in the flip lock when it's shut to lock, it's locking to prevent access into the classroom.
>> So, you are fine with fire code to get out. >> No, that's not my concern. Teacher, honest mistake. Teacher doesn't lock or close their door securely. That door is now open. That whole hallway is potentially a hazard because someone could by entering that empty classroom
with the doors not secured. Honest mistake, it happens. That whole corridor is is a problem. But so I was told by someone that no, we can't lock the past doors. It's it's a fire issue. And that's what I'm trying to that's >> well the intention is always to have multiple forms of egress from any
particular room at any time because depending on what the scenario is. understand. I just >> if all of the doors are locked now, you've got three ways that people can't get out instead of >> I understand, >> you know. So, but we do work with the fire department in order to establish
those >> um protocols and make sure that we are meeting fire code um when we do establish those protocols. Um and so those doors are intentionally not locked between rooms because they're secondary
forms of egress. So just the last on this slide here just to wrap up one of the things that we noted was that um classroom doors the main classroom doors are not always kept closed and locked while classes are on the go. It's just another observation that they
was pretty ready. So we if there's no more questions for this slide, we do site and building design layout. This is um we can just real quickly just note here that um so the buildings as we had
talked about before the way that they sit and where there and how they are designed there are uh the presentation of some areas that can't be easily seen uh hidable areas concealable areas. We also noted that uh ground flooror
windows a typical design approach protective design approach for schools today and mind you these buildings already exist is that ground floor windows are designed in such a way to preclude one from being able to look into the classroom from the outside while still being able to see out of the
classroom to the outside that way. We've seen some of your buildings here in the city have that type of smoke the outside students can't see in but you are still able to see out. What that provides is the ability for your teachers and even the students to participate in continuous observation of your exterior.
Then it limits anybody else who wishes to do something nefarious from seeing where perhaps the most targets might be located with people most souls. Um another thing that we found here is that uh again noting that when these schools were designed there's no
ballistic performance design in any of their schools. If there were to be any, it would primarily be at your main entry point. It would be a vest type design. And then we also found that there's no forced entry mitigation of any at least your ground floor windows, little glass
doors. um meaning like a film or a high wind design type of window in so much as to slow down or mitigate the ability for someone to get into your classroom to break in or break into your school if
you will to smash in. And then we did notice too that some of the foliage, the landscaping was thick in some areas and some schools that had physical property boundaries like a chainlink fence. Um those fences um
perhaps can be looked at for some upkeep and maintenance as well too. Any questions? I'm sorry I missed the last one that was also pretty cheap lights. Yeah, >> we did do a light s. >> So what that entails was us going
around. We came after hours with a light meter and went to all the buildings and went around all the buildings and through the parking lots and gauge light. What we found is um the first thing we found is that a number of lights were out.
We also found different uh light types uh LED which is very bright white and then we found nonLEDD which is like yellowish. Um so the function of the light uh with respect to safety and
security was uh not always consistent and and and where it wasn't consistent particularly was where there was light that existed the illumination level did not necessarily coincide with safety and security illumination level practices.
We spoke about how the school does have training and exercise. They do drills, the enhanced drills, the training at the um start of the year. Uh a number of personnel are trained in the CPR and adult first aid. Well, first aid, I
should say. Um they they meet the minimum they exceed minimum training requirements as so much as that they carry out the fire drills that they need to each year. They k they they follow the enhanced drills that they have in place and they also do begin their year
uh awareness courses and other ad hoc courses as they come up with respect to threat environment, active threat um and evacuation. When it comes to communication and collaboration, a couple of key things that we found here. One is that you have a RPS has an IP phone system which
allows for a number of different attributes including being able to communicate emergency issues. Uh RPS also has a two-way radio system that they use which has a dedicated emergency channel that all schools have access to, all radio users have access to which
reads to multiple locations including River PD area dispatch um with the uh superintendent's office and others as well too and amongst the schools themselves. So when and if there is something that's transmitted of a level
of emergency that it goes over channel 16, everyone's going to hear about it and know about it. And we also have uh seen and understand and learned that river is extremely quick to respond if they're not already there. They're there within
60 to 90 seconds. So a very great response time and a very good communication. We can go on unless there's any questions. >> This might be the last step. >> Oh, yeah. Next up, sorry.
>> This is the last one. >> Okay. What this slide is presenting is is an idea for consideration by RPS for an implementation roadmap or a plan. Uh, which you spoke to before. Well, you talked about a couple of times already, Diane. in so much as um putting a team
together, looking to see how we're going to do things, looking to see what we need, begin to adjust uh with respect to timelines and goals and uh action teams, monitoring, communicating it. One thing we would offer here is that we have a a
vested community >> um who's extremely interested in what you are doing or not doing. I say you, we mean RPS. Obviously when you commun when any communication is occurring use as many different type of communications consider using as many
communication strategies as you can which particularly include the community parents teachers and with that I don't think that we have anything else um any questions with the committee
anything public comment. Anyone any questions? >> U first of all, thank you for this uh this presentation. We'll be going into an executive session to talk about the any questions on the individual schools. But uh in closing this fight with the
public to go to we will be forming a new committee consisting of school committee, fire um police department as well as staff to go forward as far as with some of the recommendations that
uh with that can I make a motion to go into second session. Second all in favor? >> Yes. Thank you.