Branchburg officials propose armed retired-officer security guards at each school; policy 7446 introduced

The Branchburg Board of Education on June 11 received a detailed presentation on a proposal to place armed, retired-officer security guards in each district school as an additional security layer.

Interim Superintendent Dr. Burton and district security staff outlined the plan during a superintendent report and presentation on Policy 7446, which was listed on the meeting agenda for a first reading. Dr. Burton said the district will circulate an FAQ to parents and guardians the next morning with specifics on how the program would operate.

"Having the armed security guards really is that next layer of protection for the district," Dr. Burton said, describing the move as a complement to existing measures including visitor vestibules, ID badges, a sophisticated camera network and automated lockdown systems.

Steve, the district's director of security, told the board the district intends to hire retired police officers because they "have the training, the experience under pressure" and are already certified to qualify with firearms on an active-officer standard. He described the certifications and training the district will require: New Jersey RPO (retired police officer) certification with semiannual firearms qualification; an eight-hour SORA/Armed SORA training course emphasizing de-escalation; annual background and federal criminal-history checks; drug and toxicology screening; psychological evaluations and mental-health checks; and a five-day "school security specialist" training course offered through state education and homeland security programs.

"We’re going to mandate that every school security officer has to have school security specialist training," Steve said, adding officers will also be CPR/AED-certified and complete at least 10 hours of annual training and evaluations.

District staff framed the posts as both a deterrent and an on-site response capability. Branchburg covers roughly 25 square miles; presenters noted local police often cannot guarantee arrival inside a building within the first several minutes of an incident. "Most active shooter events are over in five minutes," Steve said, arguing an on-site trained officer could respond more quickly.

Steve also described day-to-day duties: monitoring vestibules and cameras, checking doors for being propped open, conducting perimeter and interior walkthroughs, assisting with required drills (the district runs roughly 20 drills annually across schools) and building working relationships with the local police department so officers and school security staff coordinate better during incidents.

Board members asked about timing and whether the proposal followed a specific threat. Dr. Burton said there was no single precipitating incident and characterized the initiative as due diligence to improve preparedness.

Board members also raised operational questions: how absences would be handled, and how firearms would be carried in the schools. Steve said the district will recruit substitute security officers to cover planned absences and maintain a substitute pool; on weapons handling, he described qualified, concealed carry procedures and holstering policies, stressing training and safe storage.

Policy 7446 will outline job descriptions and requirements; the board was told a parent FAQ will accompany outreach and the district will present details to staff and administrators. No cost figures or contract awards were presented at the June 11 meeting.

Next steps cited at the meeting included the Policy 7446 first reading (on the agenda) and the distribution of the FAQ for parents; additional specifics and contract terms were not yet finalized.

The board took no formal vote on hiring officers at the June 11 meeting; the presentation served to inform board discussion and to begin the policy and community-notification process.