By Erin Delmore
Correspondent
It’s a sobering moment for anyone, hearing the 911 calls from Sandy Hook Elementary School during the 2012 shooting, but especially so for teachers.
FBI Special Agent Thomas Veivia was on the scene in Newtown. He shared his advice with the 500 or so teachers, police officers and prosecutors gathered at Washington Township High School Wednesday.
“If I can get them to relate to what I’ve experienced and what I’ve seen over the years, I’m hoping that they can take that experience and then develop their own system, their own plan or some way of reacting logically rather than in a panicked manner,” he said.
Panelists focused on emergency preparedness and coordination between the classroom and the community.
“It’s imperative for everyone to be on the same page, for the school to be in communication with their local police department so if something happens, if an emergency arises, everyone knows what to do. And it’s also really important to practice that, you know, put it into action, do tabletop exercises, so if a threat actually comes to light, everyone’s prepared to handle it,” said Intelligence Analyst for the NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, Paige Shilling.
“Security has changed over the last ten years since we started this conference. When we first started, there wasn’t anything about Twitter accounts, or swatting, any of those different issues. So as time moves on, we have to also evolve and make sure that we’re staying up to speed with respect to all the security issues that are confronting not only our schools, but the communities that our schools are located in,” said Sean Dalton, Gloucester County prosecutor.
Frank DeAngelis served as Columbine High School’s principal during the 1999 shooting. He retired in 2014.
“Well I think that the most important thing is to have some type of emergency preparedness. People feel that if we don’t talk about it, it’s not going to happen. And I think some type of emergency plan needs to be in place. But I also think it’s important about developing relationships with students, having every kid in the school feel welcome, and I think that’s so important. A big part of my message today is how to create an environment that is welcoming to all kids, because people ask me, what about metal detectors, what about cameras. And I say, what about finding out what caused so much hate in the heart of these killers that walk into a building that they’re willing to kill kids, whether it be at Columbine High School or Sandy Hook?” De’Angelis said.
The coordinators and speakers at today’s conference remind us, while so much has changed in the school environment over the last two decades, the foundation has remained the same. Principal DeAngelis says he tells his teachers: Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.