Last night, the Niskayuna Central School District Board of Education adopted three resolutions focused on further enhancing the physical and emotional safety of our students. The board’s resolutions focused on three areas:
- A prioritization, timeline, and implementation plan for the recommendations of the district-wide security assessment completed by the Altaris Group in June.
- A timeline and implementation plan for expanding our existing school safety team as well as reinstatement of a school resource officer program; and
- Implementation of a district-wide, bell-to-bell ban restricting student use of cell phones on all school campuses during the regular school day.
“The Altaris Group’s report provides us with valuable feedback on how we can further enhance our district’s safety and security protocols and practices,” said Libbie Cococcia, board president. This includes a recommendation to expand our district’s existing safety team and reinstatement of a school resource officer program.
“We look forward to reviewing the leadership team’s recommendations and ensuring that our administrators, teachers, and staff have every tool and resource they need to ensure our schools and classrooms are safe and secure.”
The expansion of the district’s cell phone ban, which is currently implemented only at the high school and only during academic classes, would extend to all of Niskayuna’s other school campuses and restrict students from using cell phones at all times during the regular school day.
“The social media applications students access on cell phones profoundly and negatively impact their social and emotional well-being” said Cococcia.
“Our leadership team appreciates the board’s leadership and engagement on these important issues,” said Carl Mummenthey, superintendent of schools. “Our team will work swiftly to develop a comprehensive, prioritized series of recommendations for the board’s review.”
Mummenthey indicated that recommendations linked to the Altaris Group report will be forwarded to the board of education in November, while recommendations regarding the expansion of the safety team and the reinstatement of SROs would be offered in tandem with the district’s budget development process, which begins this winter.
The expanded cell phone restrictions, said Mummenthey, will require new administrative regulations as well as an amendment to our district’s Code of Conduct. “We intend to be prepared to move forward on these expanded restrictions no later than the end of November,” said Mummenthey.