Armed Guards Considered For Englewood Cliffs Schools

Englewood Cliffs schools are looking to upgrade their security and officials are considering hiring armed guards as part of their plans, according to Superintendent Robert Kravitz.

District officials began investigating options for increasing security after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. last month. Kravitz said they consulted with local police and municipal officials, and have been looking into a variety of options, including hiring armed guards, as part of their investigation.

The Englewood Cliffs Board of Education passed a resolution earlier this month initiating the discussion about possibly hiring the armed guards.

"We want children to feel comfortable that they're in a safe environment," Kravitz said. "We also want to alleviate any concerns parents have."

Kravitz, a father of three school-aged children, said the decision on hiring armed guards was a hard one, but he would do whatever would be best for the safety of students and staff in the district.

Before any guards can be hired, several issues need to be worked out. Kravitz said he reached out to the mayor and council to see if they would be able to assist with the costs of hiring the guards. Officials would also need to determine what liability would be involved in having armed guards in the schools. Also, the exact roll the guards would fill — reporting to the superintendent or to police — has not yet been decided.

"We don't want to make any rash decisions," Kravitz said.

If everything does work out for the district to hire guards, the final decision of who to hire will come down to a vote by the school board.

The district is also considering using a program from the Texas-based company Raptor Technologies which can instantly perform background checks on any visitors by scanning a driver's license. The system can warn school officials if anyone attempting to enter the building is a registered sex offender, has a restraining order filed against them or is involved in custody issues, among other potential hazards.

The schools already use doors that require all visitors to be buzzed in and officials are in the process of adding new vestibules to the fronts of school buildings. Visitors will be buzzed into the vestibule, then will need a teacher or other staff member to meet them to open the inner doors. Kravitz said the new doors for the vestibules had already been ordered and he hoped to have them installed soon.

Kravitz said the district would continue to work with local police, and that they were also participating in a program with the county to review their security policies. Currently, the schools hold monthly lockdown drills with police, and actually ran one, by coincidence, the same day as the shooting in Newtown.

The next Englewood Cliffs Board of Education meeting is scheduled for February 4.

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