Brentwood presents security upgrades, staffing and equipment requests ahead of 2024–25 budget

Good evening. At a budget workshop on April 12, Brentwood Union Free School District safety staff outlined a package of security upgrades completed this year and new requests for the 2024–25 school year, including finishing a districtwide camera replacement, expanding monitoring at a new safety center, a playground safety pilot, anonymous tipline upgrades, vaping-prevention programming and requests to convert middle-school part-time guards to full-time positions and to add two security vehicles.

The district's safety presentation, led by Byron McCray, described projects already under way and equipment and personnel needs that will have budget implications. McCray said completed and ongoing work includes a nearly finished camera replacement at the high school, completed elementary installations, and an operating safety center at the high school staffed full time. He said the Freshman Center monitoring setup remains not fully operational but is expected to be finished in 2025–26.

McCray told the board the district uses Student Community Relations officers for outreach — visiting students' homes when students report bullying or otherwise disengage — and that program has helped return students to the school environment. He said professional development in crisis prevention has trained all safety staff and some administrators, and that the anonymous tipline now delivers full incident reports to his phone rather than requiring staff to log into a computer.

On tangible requests, McCray listed specific needs: replacement or upgraded computers for safety staff, two additional security vehicles (arriving imminently), decals and emergency lighting for patrol vehicles, and $4,800 to fund scheduled car washes to maintain vehicle presentation and hygiene. He said the district will use an additional $50,000 to place cameras in identified blind spots after the main replacement project is finished. McCray also described a pilot playground-safety system that would issue warnings and allow safety-center staff to speak to people on school grounds and notify law enforcement if needed.

McCray described new student-facing initiatives: weekend training that lets seniors earn security licenses and job placement assistance, a boxing program, a youth police academy held in July, de-escalation training for students, a vaping-prevention PowerPoint, and plans to hire a CASAC (certified substance abuse and alcohol counselor) in the safety department to provide in-school intervention as an alternative to suspension.

On staffing, McCray asked the board to convert middle-school part-time guard positions into full-time roles because of student volume and traffic congestion at arrival and dismissal. He said the safety center currently has about four full-time monitors plus a dispatcher, and he asked for funds to upgrade computers used to monitor cameras.

During public Q&A, community members asked for a cost breakdown of the security initiatives. McCray said a full line-item breakout was not available at the meeting but that the district has invested "well over a million dollars" in security initiatives in the past year and is seeking grant funds to help pay for planned projects. District Clerk Dennis Logan was identified as the official to whom residents may submit a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request for a detailed budget breakdown.

Questions also addressed crisis-prevention outcomes and mental-health involvement. McCray said the district keeps administrative logs of crisis responses and assesses success by whether a student receives needed services and is able to return to school. He said Student Community Relations officers perform an initial assessment and refer to social workers, psychologists or EMS as appropriate; he said the district does not expect those officers to provide counseling but to make triage assessments.

A board member thanked McCray for outreach work and described community-facing programs such as "Operation Give Back," a multi-agency toy drive McCray said distributed more than 2,300 toys during the holidays.

Ending: Board members did not take a formal vote on specific security expenditures at the workshop; the presentation was positioned as part of the budget-planning process and several requests were flagged as asks for next year’s budget.