N.J. lawmakers hear school security concerns at hearing in Cherry Hill

New Jersey lawmakers who wanted to hear from stakeholders on Monday about school security got plenty of advice from educators, police, security experts and a student at a special session in South Jersey.

Nearly two dozen speakers signed up to address the Senate and Assembly Education Committees during a meeting at the Camden County College campus in Cherry Hill. It was the second of three hearings on school security convened in the aftermath of the massacre in Parkland, Fla.

"The issue of school security has never been more pressing," said Assembly Education Committee Chairwoman Pamela Lampitt (D., Camden). "Children should not fear going to school."

During the hearing, which lasted for several hours, Candace Beverly, 11, of Bordentown Township,  pleaded with lawmakers "to put an end to the terror and the fear" and make New Jersey schools safer. She cited a chant from students at Parkland, "Enough is enough!"

"I have lived through many lockdown drills in school. It is scary to curl up in a ball in a small space, and to try to be invisible and completely silent, all while dealing with fears about whether the danger is real,"  said Candace, a fifth grader at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Princeton.

The youngster, accompanied by her mother,  asked lawmakers to support a bill approved by the Assembly in June that would require schools to train students on how to interact with police. She also asked for more mental health awareness for students, a suggestion echoed by others during the hearing.

"We need you to pass laws that will help stop guns from falling into the wrong hands," she said.

The panel applauded and Lampitt promised support for the bill. There was an offer from a senator to sponsor a companion bill.

"We're all proud of you," Lampitt said. "Your words are not on deaf ears."

The February shootings in Parkland, in which 17 people were killed, galvanized students across the country to stage protests and demand action and new laws to make their classrooms safer and pass gun control measures. Voters in Pennsauken responded by approving a $36 million bond to install "mousetrap" security vestibules in all 11 district schools. The vestibules will be equipped with bulletproof glass and two sets of doors that require a buzzer entry.

In Cherry Hill, an uproar erupted after a popular teacher was suspended for raising school safety concerns at Cherry Hill High School East. After protests and meetings with parents and students, the township assigned nine full-time armed police officers to the district's 19 schools until the end of the school year.

"That's not sustainable," Superintendent Joseph Meloche told the lawmakers.

Meloche and others told the lawmakers that schools need more state funding to pay for security upgrades. About 91 percent of Cherry Hill's budget comes from property taxes, he said.

"New Jersey doesn't have a school security problem. What it has is a school funding problem," said Amy Jablonski, a mother of two and a Chesterfield Township school board member.

Cherry Hill, which has about 11,300 students in grades K-12, plans to arm its four campus officers for the 2018-19 school year and hire five additional armed officers, Meloche said. The superintendent also asked the lawmakers to approve a measure that would allow schools to screen students for mental illness, which currently requires parental permission.

Law-enforcement officials and security experts said deploying police to schools is only part of the answer. They suggested training for all school employees and programs to identify potential risks such as the weekly "huddle" by Gloucester Township police, a violence-prevention program that provides intervention for troubled youngsters.

"Police in schools is not the final answer," said Cherry Hill Police Chief William "Bud" Monaghan. "The security measures that we put in schools should not detract from the learning environment. We shouldn't be in a school and make it feel like a security institution."

Kathleen Devlin, a former security chief in Pemberton Township schools, agreed: "I think you need to try to be more preventative."

The final hearing will be held on Monday, April 23, 2018 at 4 p.m. at Rutgers University-Newark, Paul Robeson Campus Center, 350 Martin Luther King, Jr., Blvd, Newark. Students, parents and other members of the public who want to share their thoughts and recommendations on school security can register by calling (609) 847-3850.