Patchogue-Medford board approves district-wide safety plan and $5.8M in ARP-funded security upgrades

The Patchogue-Medford Board of Education approved a revised district-wide safety plan at its Aug. 26 business meeting, authorizing district administrators to submit the plan to the New York State Education Department.

Administrators told the board the updated plan reflects changes in state law and commissioner's regulations that add definitions such as "trauma-informed" drills and set limits on full-scale simulated exercises. "The district wide safety plan must be reviewed and updated annually ... The district wide safety plan must be adopted by September 1 and submitted to the State Education Department no later than October 1," a district official said during the presentation.

The board also heard a detailed accounting of how roughly $5.8 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds were used for security upgrades. Presenters said purchases and installations include portable metal detectors for large events, vape detectors at secondary schools, about 58 AED units deployed across buildings, roughly 550 classroom safety door lock retrofits, upgraded PA systems, additional exterior and interior cameras and strobe lights for loud spaces, transaction-style reception windows at many school entrances, window screens, fencing and parking‑lot gates, handheld radios and trauma/bleed kits.

Administrators emphasized that some items remained in progress but were prioritized to be in place for the start of the school year or shortly thereafter. On the classroom locks, a district presenter said the retrofit work was extensive: "We retrofitted 550 classroom doors ... so in the event that we go into a lockdown mode, they can securely press the button and lock the doors." The district also said lockdown drills will be conducted in a trauma‑informed, developmentally appropriate way and that parents would be notified of planned lockdown drills within a week of the exercise.

Members of the public asked technical questions about the equipment: whether vape detectors alert only school staff (administrators said yes), whether AEDs are available on fields (presenters said athletic staff and coaches have portable units and administrators and nurses receive annual CPR/AED training), and whether full-scale exercises could be run on school days (administrators said state rules prohibit full-scale exercises on regular school days or when school activities are occurring without specific procedures, parental consent and other safeguards).

After discussion the board moved and voted to approve the revised district-wide safety plan and the motion passed by voice vote.

Next steps described by administrators include completing remaining installations and finalizing building-level emergency response plans so the district can submit the adopted plan to the State Education Department on schedule.