Glens Falls School District: Upgrade of School Security

Throughout the course of the 2022-2023 school year, Glens Falls School District (GFSD) has been diligently working to improve the security and safety of the students, staff, and teachers in the district.

The GFSD started off the school year with a lockout and a lockdown within the first weeks of school… On the first day of school, a student refused to leave the building during the back-to-school picnic. He had been escorted out of the building, and then returned and was let into the building by a fellow student who was unaware of the situation. When the student encountered the school’s hall monitor and principal, a BB-gun fell out of his backpack, triggering a lockout. The following week, a middle school student was seen with a toy replica gun, and both schools were put into a full lockdown. In each incident, the Glens Falls Police responded, and removed the student.

The two incidents made GFSD take both immediate steps and implement long term solutions to increase the safety of the school: on September 15th, 2022, single-point-of-entry protocols and backpack checks were put into place at Glens Falls High School and Middle School for each student. This new implementation created long lines, and resulted in missed academic time… To offset that disturbance to the classroom, the schools shifted to randomized bag checks and randomized locker checks throughout the day. Each building used an internal randomization system to prevent any unintentional bias towards any student. 

As the year progressed, GFSD invested in state-of-the-art security upgrades to help keep the schools safe. The Raptor Visitor Management System was installed in all five of the Glens Falls School buildings… This system scans visitors’ drivers licenses when they enter the building, performs an instant sex-offender check, and verifies the visitor’s identity; this is all done before the individual is allowed to proceed into the school. This security check is performed in a secure vestibule in each of the schools.

Skye Heritage – the Glens Falls School District Communication Director – is well versed in the updated security measures that GFSD has taken throughout the school year… During a tour of the security systems, Skye explained how the systems worked: “This security technology is provided by Raptor Technologies… Each visitor has their license scanned and is given a badge. This badge has the visitor name and where in the building you are supposed to be. The Raptor system also has a constant record of who is in the building, so if we have a fire drill or an emergency, we have our student attendance records, and we also have the list of adults that are in the building from Raptor. That way, we can account for every single person in an emergency. People come and go, and we need to know who is in the building,”  Skye said. 

Another security upgrade is an advanced weapons detection system that each student walks through every morning to enter both the high school and middle school. This system has sensors that are designed to look for firearm components and shapes of weapons, and the alarms are not triggered by items like cell phones and keys: “We want to make the school as secure as possible and not have the process be overly invasive,” Skye said.

The “Evolve” Advanced Walk Through Concealed Weapon Detection System is designed to allow 3,600 visitors to walk through an hour, without having to conduct pat downs or empty pockets… This technology can distinguish between personal items and weapons.

Officer John Norton and Officer Pete Casertino both help the kids navigate the system each morning: “In a nutshell, it’s not just a metal detector, it is looking for metal but it is also looking for shapes; edged weapon shapes, barrels of guns, and bomb components,” Officer Norton said.  “In the role of ‘the greeter’ I decide who is going to be searched, because there are things in the bag that will set off the detector… The spines of a binder will set it off. We have the kids walk through with their binders out. So we have the kids walk through while holding their binder in front of them so we can see that the alert is centered on that item, not on something inside their backpack. The kids have been amazing and resilient. Getting through the first couple of days was hard for both us and the kids, but we have learned what sets it off and the kids have been amazing,” Officer Norton said.

The upgrades in security coincide with an upgrade to parent and staff communications as well: “When students need to be evacuated to an alternate location, reunification for parent pick-up is based on registration data to make sure the correct kids go with the correct adults… The reunification site is not public knowledge for safety reasons. We don’t advertise that information in advance, because there is a concern that the location could be a secondary target… If we ever need to use it, our communication plan is designed to inform parents and guardians by text message, email, and phone call with the specific details of where to go and what to do. The communications are translated into the recipient’s home language,” Skye Heritage said. 

Officer Norton has worked as School Resource Officer since 2018, and Officer Casertino was added in January of 2023. Since then, they have also added Rebecca Lowery, who is a security staff member, not uniformed law enforcement.

Kevin Warren – Principal of Glens Falls High School – explained the importance of the different responsibilities of the resource officers and school staff: “Helping with bag checks, de-escalation, relationship building and connection… We can do a lot of these physical security items, but it’s really about knowing the kids and building relationships. These are preventive things that are multi-faceted,” he said.

The security upgrades will continue, and are evolving to improve emergency communications outside the building – both Officer Norton and Officer Casertino are working with law enforcement and emergency services to increase reliable radio transmissions across emergency responder units: “There are some areas in the building where the emergency radios don’t work as well as we would like. We communicate with the Warren County Sheriff, Glens Falls Police and NewYork State Police and the Fire Department… We have had troopers walk around the building to check the signals, and see where the signal needs to be boosted for radios system and cell phones. The worst feeling is when you call dispatch and hear ‘Repeat, I couldn’t hear you,’ (So) we need a clear and loud transmission… In that situation, time is of the essence and transmitting the communications is key. The GFPD has an amazing response time; it’s within seconds, which is amazing,” Officer Casertino said.

Both Officer Norton and Officer Casertino conveyed how responsive and helpful the students have been during the increase to security: “The students have been phenomenal; they understand that it’s for their overall safety,” Officer Norton said. 

The district also takes the safety and security of the elementary schools into consideration – both the School Resource Officers and additional Glens Falls Police and New York State Troopers randomly visit the elementary schools and perform walkthroughs.

This helps the officers become more familiar with the schools as well as increases security. The school resource officers have worked to bring different branches of law enforcement through the schools to  help make them familiar with the schools as well… Having each level of law enforcement working together can help in an emergency situation.

The security upgrades have been made in the classrooms as well – there is now a blind system in place on the classroom doors’ windows, and with a quick pull, it can prevent someone from looking into the classroom. As part of the new protocol, when a lockdown is called the shades are pulled. Principal Warren was integral in getting those for each of the classrooms: “The teachers used to have to find something to block the window and now we have these installed. The consistency alone acts as a deterrent. These upgrades have involved every department in the school from technology to maintenance – our support staff has been amazing,” Officer Casertino said. 

GFSD has made considerable changes and upgrades to improve safety and security for every member of the school community… Through increased personnel, backpack checks, and expanded technology systems. Another new security measure allows any adult in the building to initiate an immediate lockdown by dialing a code from a classroom landline phone… Although there have been two false alarms, the upgrade in security remains essential for the safety of the school… And the secret code has been changed.

Student ID cards have been given to all middle school and high school students, with the expectation that all students wear them in the building. These photo IDs also have a barcode that students scan if they arrive late in the morning, or want to obtain a hall pass to move around the building between classes.

 GFSD has worked to make substantial improvements to security for the student, teacher, staff and community. These improvements have been far-reaching, elaborate, and have been implemented swiftly, with the security of the school as the top priority.