Put Safety First At Summit Lane
The following letter, addressed to the Levittown Board of Education, was forwarded to the Trib for publication.
Summit Lane School presents a unique situation in its security/safety problems. Summit Lane is behind the Tri-County Flea Market and adjacent to Division Avenue High School with an empty track between them. Summit Lane is off the beaten track and often the target of vandalism as well as a known hangout area as documented in Mr. Chambers' letter which accompanied the Safe Home Directory sent out last week.
With this in mind and the recent events that have taken place over the past few weeks involving supposed pedophiles in the area, the time has come for the Levittown School District to implement security measures in our buildings. We expect that our children will be as safe as the children in the surrounding school districts where security measures have been installed.
Yes, we all know that a buzzer, a video monitor and/or locked door will not keep out the one person who desperately wants to get into a school for evil reasons. However, let's not be the only school district without some safety precautions.
The New York City Schools have installed metal detectors in their schools to alleviate guns and knives being brought to school. Surrounding Nassau County districts have installed video cameras, buzzers or full-time aides to monitor their visitors. Levittown has done none of these in our elementary schools. The newspapers or TV will tell you that child abduction is on the rise. We have chosen to ignore these safety measures in our budget. Why?
No one wants to admit that in this day and age, children's safety is a real concern. These concerns include playing outside at home, in a mall accompanied by parents or on school grounds. This is the reality in today's world. The carefree life of a child does not exist today as it did when "the Beaver or Ricky Nelson" were growing up. How sad it is to live in a world where child abduction and child abuse occur daily.
Let's face it, some of today's problems can be deterred or at least made more difficult to accomplish with the implementation of modern technology. With modern technology and today's safety devices these issues can be addressed. Modern safety measures can be installed at a very reasonable price. Aren't our children worth it?
Children's safety is our responsibility as parents, educators, Board of Education members and superintendents. Safeguards are taught to our children at a very young age. We try to enforce, without scaring our children, don't talk to strangers, always have a buddy with you and don't walk in desolate places. Shouldn't we also install safeguards in our schools?
Let's not wait for a tragedy to occur before we realize that our lack of security is antiquated and extremely dangerous to our children. Let's address this issue. Let's try to prevent the unthinkable. We do not want to be responsible for a deviant entering our schools. Do you?
Please put our children's safety first and install modern safety devices or include monies for a full-time security person to be assigned in every school. Our children's safety depends on you.
Thank you for taking the time to listen.