It was a sign of the times on November 13 with members of the Old Rochester Regional Joint School Committees contemplating the unthinkable during a demonstration of an advanced school security software system called Mutualink™ Edge, a collaborative suite that allows virtually instant interagency and interschool communication in the event of an emergency.
Mattapoisett Police Chief Mary Lyons introduced Bob Galvin, a retired police officer now working for the Connecticut-based Mutualink™, who gave a presentation on how the program operates to an attentive school committee and a couple town officials in attendance.
The software streamlines the emergency response process by instantly forming multimedia communications via a secure network that can connect a school with police, fire, other schools within the district and other agencies, and connect them to video surveillance cameras within the school, computers, tablets, smart phones, and hand-held radios.
On the computer screen, a user can open an incident box and drag and drop those agencies the user desires to be included in the emergency response. By accessing the existing video surveillance cameras within the school, police can assess the situation and respond.
“It gives the police what I call ‘situation awareness,’” said Galvin. Police can take over the intercom system and inform the school staff and students where an intruder might be located within the building so they can react accordingly.
A hardwired panic button is located at the main office, with “soft” panic buttons available to designated staff via an app on their smart phone or tablet.
“In the event of an emergency, time is of the essence,” said Galvin.
Galvin said the system’s secure network is military-level encrypted, the highest level of security available.
“There’s no cure for what we’re talking about here,” said Galvin, after the phrase “school shooting” was spoken several times throughout the evening. “I really shouldn’t have to be here because we shouldn’t have to be talking about situations like this.”
Other school districts in the region have heard the same presentation and some have opted to adopt the program. Galvin said it makes schools safer.
“I believe in this system,” said Galvin.
The cost to install the system is $17,000 per school, which includes training. It is then $1,100 annually per site for maintenance and continued support.
Superintendent Doug White said the three towns would have to vote at Town Meeting to back the school district financially if The Joint eventually decides to pursue the program.
Chief Lyons said all the Tri-Town chiefs are on board with adopting the program and the town administrators are discussing it.
Also during the meeting, principals presented their 2014 MCAS scores from each of the schools – some celebrating and some vowing to improve their scores by taking specific measures to support students and staff in preparation for the 2015 PARCC exam and MCAS in high school.
Assistant Superintendent Elise Frangos gave an overview of the schools’ scores and shared some insight into some of the reasons why not all schools improved their scores as much as they had hoped.
“We’ve experienced some drops this year because of the full implementation of the Common Core,” stated Frangos.
Sippican School Principal Lyn Rivet had much to sing about, with the school’s recognition as a commendation school – the highest level of achievement for schools – for the first time. To achieve commendation school status, MCAS scores must reflect that achievement gaps have closed, which all the participating grades at Sippican accomplished.
A point of pride for Sippican is that English Language Arts (ELA) scores were strong and increased significantly in grades three through five, ranking Sippican number one for its cohort (a smaller grouping of school districts sharing similar demographics).
Center School and Old Hammondtown celebrated commendation school status for its third year, one of only five school districts in the state to receive the honor for three consecutive years. One of Mattapoisett’s points of pride is that 96percent of sixth-graders scored in the advanced or proficient category in ELA, and 91percent of them fell within the advanced or proficient category in Mathematics.
Rochester Memorial School ranked number one in its cohort for growth comparison. Eighty-one percent of sixth grade students scored advanced proficient in ELA, and 86percent scored proficient or advanced in Math.
ORR Junior High School Principal Kevin Brogioli explained a significant dip in progress in the Math portion of the MCAS, and laid out plans on how the school will address the issue.
Brogioli said a math text expert and a math coach to support staff with the curriculum have been brought in to support students and staff during this transition into the Common Core learning standard.
“It points to a big area of concern from sixth grade to seventh grade,” said Brogioli, adding that the math coach will assist by modeling lessons, observing, guiding, and providing instructional strategies to increase student engagement.
“[We are going to] roll up our sleeves and get after it,” said Brogioli, “and that’s what we’re going to do.”
ORR High School Principal Michael Devoll started his presentation by saying said the Common Core “hit us.”
“And it hit us pretty good,” he said. Devoll continued, “High needs students were not reaching their potential and that was causing a gap for many of our students.”
Devoll described a summer school skills class for entering freshman that need catching up on Algebra 1, where a discrepancy in learning appears to have an impact on freshman and sophomore MCAS performance.
Devoll was happy to announce that the school made the Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Roll, with increased participation and test performance in AP classes.
School Committee members weighed in on their thoughts about MCAs performance, and Co-Chairman James O’Brien told Brogioli that the committee would continue to support him as long as he kept the committee informed throughout the year.
“I can’t change what was,” stated Brogioli, “but I can go from what is, to what it ought to be.”
The next meeting of The Joint School Committee is January 15 at 6:30 pm in the Old Rochester Regional Media Room.
By Jean Perry
