Kingston school district taking comments on safety plan – Daily Freeman


KINGSTON, N.Y. — Officials have scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday, Aug. 31, on proposed revisions to the school district safety plan that update information on the membership of committees and provide meeting schedules.

The session is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the former Meagher Elementary School at 21 Wynkoop Place.

“There’s only a few updates to the plan for 2022-23,” Superintendent Paul Padalino said. “The districtwide Safety Committee meeting schedule is in the plan now. The Response Team and the Safety (Committee) members .. .have been changed and there are some additional members, additional staff training around mental health, violence prevention, and restorative practices, and the safety officers total (are updated), because we now have more safety officers that work in the district.”

Padalino added that some parts of the plan are withheld from the public to avoid providing details of building layouts and sensitive security information.

“The building level response plan is required to be kept confidential,” he said. “It contains … floor plans, blueprints and schematics.”

The safety plan covers activities that may be planned, such as building construction or emergencies that occur without warning, including incidents that would require locking down classrooms.

Areas of concern modified over the past several years were related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the use of personal protective equipment by staff and students, as well as actions intended to counter the spread of infectious disease.

“While cleaning supplies are not PPE, there is a related need for cleaning supplies used to sanitize surfaces as well as hand soap and hand satirizer,” officials wrote. “The coronavirus pandemic demonstrated that supply chains were not able to keep up with increased demand for these products early in the pandemic. As such, we are including these supplies in this (plan) as they are pertinent to protecting the health and safety of our employees and contractors.”

Other sections of the plan include risk assessment and reduction or prevention of incidents.

“The Kingston city school district implements a 24-hour anonymous tip reporting system for students and parents to report potential safety or security problems that may affect students, staff, community members or property,” officials wrote.

The plan is available, along with a link for comments, on the district website, www.kingstoncityschools.org, through Saturday, Aug. 6.



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