Babylon Schools Increase Security After Newtown Tragedy

The Babylon School District has increased security measures at all three of its school buildings in the wake of the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.

The principals and faculties of all three school buildings within the district have reviewed their emergency response plans, said Board of Education President Dominic Bencivenga at the board meeting on Monday evening.

"Each building held a succesful lockdown drill," Bencivenga reported to a large attending crowd. "A First Precinct officer reviewed the procedures for each drill and provided feedback."

Bencivenga said drills will continue throughout the rest of this school year and continue into the 2013-14 school year as well.

In addition to drills, Bencivenga said the district has increased its security personnel's prescence within the three buildings.

"Security guards have been assigned to the Grade School and Elementary School," he said. Each guard will assist in the opening and closing of the school daily and admit visitors to the building.

Connect with Babylon Village Patch: Daily Newsletters | Facebook | Twitter | Blog

Bencivenga said the Grade School had a guard present to begin with from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the formerly part-time guard at the Elementary School has been extended to a full-day as well.

Babylon Junior-Senior High School will remain a relatively open campus for its eldest students in grades 10 through 12, allowing them to venture out of the school during lunch periods – although only through three doors for the time being, with the main entrance remaining the one constant.

Three security guards are employed at the high school and almost all doors within the building will remain closed and locked.

"We wanted to let everyone know where we are with this," said Bencivenga. "We live in tricky, 'what-if' times... these are the steps we've taken to make sure our children are safe."

West Babylon Schools announced it would review its stepped-up security protocols last month a few weeks after the Newtown shooting.