BY ELMA LETIC
Staff Writer

In an effort to improve safety measures throughout the district, Supt. Randal Lutz is inviting area emergency service departments to tour Baldwin-Whitehall schools.

Lutz said that improving school safety already had been one of his goals in his first year as superintendent, and that the Sandy Hook shooting underscored the importance of doing so.

Police, fire, and EMT departments from Baldwin, Whitehall, and possibly Baldwin Township are expected to tour the district’s schools this spring. The departments will become more familiar with the district’s buildings, and possibly offer advice to further improve school security, Lutz said.

The purpose of having the departments tour the schools is to make it easier for the departments to get to a certain place in a time of emergency faster. While police already are aware of the layouts of the schools, the firefighters and EMTs might not be, he said.

“When people respond to calls, they can react much quicker,” Lutz said.Other measures to improve safety include meeting periodically with emergency service providers, analyzing building spaces, setting up more automatically locking doors, and installing more cameras.

Lutz said that after the departments tour the buildings and make any recommendations, the staff should be able to see the buildings from a new perspective.

“Our perspectives are very educational,” Lutz said, while the emergency service officials can give the staff a perspective that emphasizes security.

In addition, Lutz wants staff and students to question anything that seems abnormal or unusual in terms of building security.

“The safety and security of everybody is everybody’s business,” Lutz said.

The district already has revised how parents drop off and pick up their children from the elementary schools, and more revisions can be expected to be made throughout all of the schools in the district.
Revisions may be made to long-standing traditions that some people might not welcome with open arms, but the revisions will improve the overall safety of the schools, he said.

Some students said they welcomed the additional focus on security.Sophomore Dani Dubrosky said she has been concerned ever since Sandy Hook.“I could get shot if little kids (at Sandy Hook) can,” she said.

Junior Bri DiLucia approved of Lutz’s plan, saying that it could benefit safety in the schools.
“It sounds good. I think we need it in case of emergencies. You never know if something could happen here.”