You may notice a few more law enforcement and emergency services vehicles on campus Tuesday, Oct. 21, as Dutchess BOCES is hosting the Dutchess County School Safety Advisory Committee’s 15th Annual School Safety Seminar. Vehicles from the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services and Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response may be present.
About 100 attendees, presenters and dignitaries will be at the day-long event, designed to address a variety of school safety issues. The topics change each year, but the goal is the same: “to bring everybody up to the same level of understanding about matters involving school safety,” Co-chair Robert Bloom said. This year, there are two areas of focus: the reunification process (bringing students and their families together) should something happen, and how schools and local government can better work together to provide information to the public.
Bloom, a retired Hyde Park Central School District teacher, co-chairs the committee with Millbrook Central School District Superintendent Caroline Hernandez Pidala and Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Alonzo Montayna.
“We try to be as comprehensive as possible,” Hernandez Pidala said of the event, which is designed for school administrators, law enforcement and emergency services personnel, social workers, crisis prevention workers, teachers, teaching assistants, psychologists, public health officials, nurses, transportation officials and anyone else who may play a role in school safety.