Westchester Schools Work Up New Security Plan For Threats, Crisis Response
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A new comprehensive school safety report released Wednesday shows the best ways of keeping Westchester children and teachers safe.
The Westchester County School Safety Commission made more than a dozen recommendations for better school safety including:
- The development of school threat assessment teams consisting of school administrators, counselors, and police officers to help identify students in mental distress.
- Adding a police officer point of contact for each of the county's 400-plus schools.
- Special crisis response training for school resource officers and staff to prepare them for possible school shooting situations.
READ: Creating Safer Schools Full Report
"The way to deal with this intelligently is to look at the sources that could generate an individual or combination of individuals deciding to do something like this and to identify it early, to address it early, to address it professionally," said Westchester County Executive George Latimer. "It has the best chance of success over the long haul."
County officials say communication among county agencies and schools is paramount to help keep students safe.
