Board adopts district safety plan; staff highlight SROs, camera upgrades and Safe School Helpline use

The Webster Central School District Board of Education on June 10 approved the district-wide safety plan for the 2025–26 school year after a public hearing and a staff presentation that summarized recent security investments and programs.

The plan incorporates state-required language changes and heat-related requirements; staff noted the state now requests the term "secure lockout" in building-level procedures. The board voted to adopt the plan by voice vote: "All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None. Motion carries."

District safety and security measures discussed at the meeting included praise for school resource officers (SROs), replacement of aging surveillance cameras, and a real‑time notification link between school alarm systems and Webster Police phones. Mr. Flood, a district leader, described the SRO program as, "the best money this district spends by far in my opinion," and outlined daily SRO activity including classroom visits, mock crash events, and participation in middle- and elementary-school programs.

Technology upgrades outlined by staff include replacing roughly 170 of about 520 district cameras, adding network drops for classroom notification clocks, and enrollment of Webster police phones in the district's InformaCast notification group so officers receive lockdown alerts instantly. Staff said that integration could put officers on scene faster than waiting for a 911 dispatch cycle.

Staff also reviewed the district's use of the Safe School Helpline (Safe School Help Line / Safe School Tip Line), which accepts anonymous calls, texts and web reports. The presenter noted recent tip-line outcomes over multiple years and said some calls have prevented imminent student self-harm; for the most recent year staff stated the final counts included 18 self-harm reports, 9 substance-abuse reports and 10 weapon threats, and that several calls duplicated a single reported weapons incident at Willink. The presenter said the service costs "6 or $7,000 a year" and described it as a cost-effective safety tool.

Decisions and next steps: the board formally adopted the district safety plan and earlier approved a low-voltage contract to install fiber and cabling related to current capital projects—including camera and communications work—which staff said came in under budget.

What it means: The plan adoption and the described investments represent a multi-pronged approach—personnel, technology and anonymous reporting—to prevention and emergency response across Webster schools.