Good afternoon.
I hope this message finds you well and that your family members had a productive start to the school year.
As we celebrate the excitement associated with a new school year, we are heartbroken over the report of yet another mass school shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
Any time our nation endures a tragic event with a loss of young lives, we naturally examine safety procedures and protocols within our community. As your superintendent, I hold the safety and security of all 8,000 students and approximately 1,000 employees paramount and will continue to reevaluate our processes to provide a safe and secure environment for everyone within the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District.
In our district, we are fortunate to have a significant security team of individuals who monitor our buildings throughout the school day. The Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education did not hesitate this summer when I expressed the need to expand our security team, thus enhancing coverage of all our buildings. Each security team member is a retired law enforcement officer who can keep our students safe amidst a life-threatening situation. Our 14 security monitors and two School Resource Officers share information and work collaboratively to provide our community with a safe and secure environment.
Our schools opened the 2024/25 school year with secure vestibules, updated cameras, swipe, and communications systems, allowing us to respond to emergencies that may arise swiftly. The requisite investments in school safety were significant and prioritized by the Board of Education and District administration through the passage of our district referendum and yearly budget allocations.
Every one of our schools has an active threat assessment team comprising a multidisciplinary group that identifies and addresses potential threats. The threat assessment team consists of the following individuals:
A school counselor or professional with counseling credentials
Teaching staff member
Administrator
School Resource Officer or Security Director
School Safety Specialist
Finally, school security is a community issue, and we kindly ask that parents and guardians discuss with their children the need to report any potential threats to adults who can help. Together, we can keep our students and faculty safe.
Thank you, and I wish you a successful school year.
Robert Beers
Superintendent of Schools