Emergency Protocols Highlight BOE Meeting

Haddonfield school Superintendent Richard Perry on Thursday reported some communications lessons learned from the 45-minute school lockdown he ordered Sept. 27, . He made the remarks at an action meeting of the school board at the high school.

Perry said the best source of information will be provided on the Haddonfield School District website because it can take as long as an hour for emails to reach thousands of recipients on the parent email list during emergencies.

The board prefers families register for electronic notification through the Genesis parent access system rather than flooding the school with calls, which can overload the capacity of the communications network during a crisis.

The three-tiered emergency system—which is defined at the state level—describes different measures of district response to dangerous situations. In tier-three emergencies, which are the most serious, the school has a “one-shot” text messaging system that Perry likened to a musket in terms of its difficulty to reset.

Perry's remarks highlighted a slender agenda and a quiet public comment session. It was the first board meeting since borough voters this month.

Filling in for absent board president Steven Weinsten, vice-president Glen Moramarco called the referendum results “a good start, but not the end of the ball game,” as far as helping to fund land-use proposals involving the purchase of the 18.7-acre Bancroft campus adjacent to the high school on Kings Highway East.

“In addition, we’ll still need a bond measure,” he said. “My sense from the school board meeting was that this was something the community wanted.”

The borough Board of Commissioners this week cast doubts on the school's Bancroft plan, which could cost as much as $24 million. The three commissioners, the borough's highest elected officials, are charged with coming up with a development plan for Bancroft, the 128-year old center for people with developmental disabilities.

Representatives from the Haddonfield Education Association were also at the meeting, identifiable by the red shirts they wore as a show of solidarity during ongoing contract negotiations with the district. Sit-down talks are still on track for early December between the two sides, confirmed HEA co-president Sharon Stokes. The teachers' contract expired nearly 18 months ago.

Moramarco also responded to concerns raised at the last board meeting that the district was not responsive enough to the professional development needs of Haddonfield faculty. His curriculum committee report acknowledged that the board will be working to address that issue.