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Locust Valley board cancels meeting after threatening voicemails; district outlines stepped-up safety measures
Summary
Trustees said two threatening voicemails prompted evacuation and cancellation of a prior meeting; administrators described new safety protocols including incident commanders, integrated security systems and annual emergency-plan reviews.
The Locust Valley Central School District board said it canceled a September meeting and evacuated a building after receiving two voicemail messages that raised safety concerns, and administrators on Thursday described new and expanded safety protocols put in place after that incident.
The district announced the cancellation and evacuation at the start of Thursday’s Board of Education meeting. “As a father myself of two children in this district … our absolute number one priority is the safety and well‑being of our students and our families,” Board President George Vasilou said when explaining the decision to cancel the prior meeting and clear the building.
District executive director of administrative operations and technology Ken Packard gave a presentation on Thursday about changes made to the district’s safety plan since last year’s review. Packard said the district trained “incident commanders” at every elementary school, ran tabletop exercises and provided FEMA ICS‑100 training for more than a dozen staff members so someone is formally designated to lead a school if the principal is unavailable. He described annual building‑level emergency plan reviews the district completes by Sept. 15 each year.
Packard also said the district has been integrating previously separate security systems using a commercial product from Verkada, linking security cameras, access card readers and a lockdown function so that activating a lockdown locks doors districtwide. He said the district tightened visitor management, connected card‑swipe logs to video and installed blue “lockdown” buttons tied into the system. Packard said the district also expanded mental‑health and violence‑prevention training for staff.
Superintendent Doctor Turnow told the board the district worked with law enforcement after the voicemails and “they assured us that it was absolutely okay to open the school buildings the following day,” and that the district increased security in the immediate period after the threat. The board’s public remarks stressed the decision to cancel had been made out of concern for families and attendees in the building at the time, including athletic events.
Board members and the administration framed the cancellation as a safety decision rather than an effort to avoid public comment. “If there is a supposition … that we intentionally cancel the meeting to avoid discussing any topic … our board is always here and we always listen to our community,” Vasilou said.
District officials said the safety upgrades build on a districtwide safety committee and existing annual drills and training. Packard emphasized the district’s ongoing work to unify plans and systems and said training and systems integration are incremental and will continue each year.
The board did not hold a vote on new policies or permanent personnel changes at Thursday’s meeting tied to the security upgrades; the presentation was framed as an update on actions already implemented and ongoing training and planning.
School leaders said they will post the safety‑plan presentation and supporting materials online for community review, and they invited questions via the district’s published channels.
