CAZENOVIA — During the Jan. 12 Cazenovia Central School District Board of Education (CCSD BOE) meeting, Superintendent Kevin Linck addressed two stressful events that occurred the previous week and had a significant impact on the school population. He first discussed a false lockdown alarm that w ent off on Wednesday, Jan. 7, remarking that the students, staff, faculty, and administrators did a phenomenal job responding to the situation. Linck explained that the alarm was sounded as a result of work that was being done on one of the other, unrelated alarm systems. “All of it is, of course, computerized,” he said. “All of it is worked on by the same company, and it’s a company that works on this in lots of different schools. When they restarted the system after fixing what was in failure in the other alarm system, it triggered all the alarms, and that’s when this went off. This system is going to need some work. . . . They are working diligently on a fix.” Linck added that, on a more positive note, the incident demonstrated that the lockdown alarm system works. “It does reach out to the people that we need it to reach out to,” he said. “. . . As much as I am deeply disappointed that this happened, there were so many positives in that we are now able to see where there are some weak spots, where there are some issues, and where we need to fix things in the event of an actual situation.” He also acknowledged that the event was obviously awful and traumatic for students and staff. According to the superintendent, a simple step that will help prevent a repeat incident is to avoid working on anything that could potentially trip the system while students are at school. He said that on Friday, the system was worked on at 6 a.m., long before students entered the building. Linck also said that following the event, he heard some stories from students about how safe their teachers made them feel by putting their training into action. “Unfortunately, maybe [that involved] barricading the door [and] those sorts of things,” he said. “I mean, there was this expectation that this was, at least initially, a very real thing. They were reassuring, they made them feel comfortable. Teachers were ready. The stories I heard were pretty incredible. My own son said, ‘Boy, dad, I was in Mr. Martin’s class, and I felt really safe.’” In addition, Linck said he feels terrible for what everyone went through and, ultimately, when things like that happen, he accepts full responsibility. The district has distributed a Google form to staff to gather information about the experience, discover any “holes,” and learn as much from event as possible. “[We want to really] make sure in the event of something happening, that we feel very comfortable about what is happening and make sure that we’re caring for our students the best way we can,” he said. Linck also reported on a shelter in place drill that occurred the next day in response to a staff member experiencing a medical emergency. He commended the group of young students who witnessed and responded to the emergency, noting how scary the situation must have been. “That one was definitely real,” he said. “And they went and they got help for the staff member. They did everything right. And I just want to say [that] the fact that they knew what to do, and that they remained calm and composed, and they did all the right things to help the staff member and get them the support and help that they needed, speaks volumes [about] our kids.” Linck suggested that students who are still struggling with emotions related to the medical emergency and/or the false lockdown alarm speak to a trusted adult at school, which could be a teacher, counselor, social worker, or school psychologist. He also said that the ways staff members have been stepping up to support one another has been touching to witness. New BOE member appointed, merger study company selected At the beginning of the meeting, the board welcomed Leigh Baldwin as its newest member. Baldwin, whose oath of office was administered by District Clerk Emily Ayres, has filled a vacancy resulting from the Oct. 30 resignation of JoAnne Race. “He brings a huge amount of community credibility to this board,” said BOE President Judith Hight. “He’s got a lot of experience in finance and budgeting. And more than that, he served on the board previously and very successfully.” During her report later in the meeting, Hight announced that the Morrisville-Eaton and Cazenovia boards of education have selected the company Schmitt Leadership to conduct their merger study. The total cost is $48,600. Each district received a $20,000 grant from the New York State Department of State to help fund the study. “That [covers] the majority of the cost, and the remainder of it is aidable,” Hight said. “I know people were really concerned — and so were we — about the expense. The other ones we looked at were around $80,000 to $100,000 for the study. So, we felt like we were going to get a high-quality study at a great price.” She added that the firm’s price includes six months of follow-up consulting, regardless of whether a merger is ultimately pursued by the two communities or not. “They will do some consulting with us in the aftermath so that our districts are left in a better place than they were at in the beginning,” she said. “So, it is kind of exciting really.” Hight added that the school boards were also impressed by the amount of community outreach the firm plans to do, including public forums, focus groups, and talking to people individually. “I want to be so super clear, this is about a study about a merger and what it would entail so that both communities have information to make a decision on,” said CCSD BOE Vice President Travis Barr. “And if you missed any of the forums that were held last year, the purpose is not to sway us one way or another; it is to lay out unbiased facts so both boards and both communities can decide together if this is something we want to move forward with or not. . . . There will be lots of opportunities for community voices to be heard and to give thoughts, concerns, and feedback, so I encourage everyone to pay attention to catch those when you can . . .” CCSD BOE meetings are open to the public, and community members are encouraged to attend. Meeting dates are listed on the district website and the school calendar. For more information, visit cazenoviacsd.com/board. To contact the entire board, email [email protected]. Anyone not directly affiliated with CCSD can sign up for the ParentSquare Community Group to receive newsletters and other information. Sign up at parentsquare.com/community_signups/94dc9c19-0570-4ecd-bd7a-868cb499bc46/new. ...read more read less