School Security Implementation
School safety personnel carry out the District-Wide School Safety Plan and include the Building Level School Safety Team. These individuals have received appropriate annual training as required under New York State Regulation. Such training has been conducted in cooperation with the Police Department. These individuals are not to be confused with school security guards that we employ who are regulated under the New York State Security Guard Act that requires specific training, fingerprinting and background checks. All of our Security Guards receive eight hours of pre-assignment and sixteen hours of in-service training along with additional eight hours of annual refresher training. Our contracted security company is a New York State licensed agency and all of our security guards are also individually licensed.
Appropriate school building security measures and procedures have been determined by the District-Wide School Safety Team and Building-Level Emergency Response Team after review of school building procedures and practices, emergency response plan, code of conduct, security surveys/audits, and building-level climate surveys. Based on these findings we have implemented the following security measures:
- Entrance guards and hall monitors received two days of staff development every school year.
- The School District has had a security audit/assessment of all school buildings conducted by the Nassau County Police Department in conjunction with our Building-Level Emergency Response Team.
- Visitors to the building will be questioned at the main entrance security desk as to their business and if they have an appointment. If there is any question, the building Principal or Assistant Principal will be contacted. If the visitor’s reason for visit is confirmed, the visitor will sign-in and be escorted to his or her destination. Upon completion of their business, the visitor will be escorted out of the building.
- Visitor badge/sign-in procedures – The Great Neck Public Schools adopted the LobbyGuard Visitor Management System many years ago. The system is currently in place in all five of our elementary schools, our two middle schools, our two high schools, and our Clover Drive building which houses three district programs. LobbyGuard requires visitors to register at a self-service kiosk before entering a building. They enter their name, date of birth, and destination, have their photo taken, and scan their driver's license as photo identification, which triggers a background check against certain publicly available databases. The system prints a badge once the background check is complete and visitors must log out by scanning the badge before they leave the building. Since all staff prominently display district-issued ID cards, visitors without a badge stand out and will be questioned by building staff and referred to the school principal.
- Visitor badge/sign-in procedures – The Great Neck Public Schools adopted the LobbyGuard Visitor Management System many years ago. The system is currently in place in all five of our elementary schools, our two middle schools, our two high schools, and our Clover Drive building which houses three district programs. LobbyGuard requires visitors to register at a self-service kiosk before entering a building. They enter their name, date of birth, and destination, have their photo taken, and scan their driver's license as photo identification, which triggers a background check against certain publicly available databases. The system prints a badge once the background check is complete and visitors must log out by scanning the badge before they leave the building. Since all staff prominently display district-issued ID cards, visitors without a badge stand out and will be questioned by building staff and referred to the school principal.
- Video surveillance – closed-circuit.
- NYS certified security guards.
- A designated School District Security Supervisor.
- On-going security audits.
- Random searches may be considered if deemed necessary.
- We will employ any other methods deemed necessary and constantly review our current practices.