Board holds public hearing on districtwide safety plan for 2025–26

The Central Square Central School District Board of Education opened a public hearing on its districtwide safety plan for the 2025–26 school year and heard a staff presentation outlining the plan's structure and recent updates. The hearing covered the five component documents — the code of conduct, the public employer emergency health plan, the standard response protocol, the workplace violence prevention program and the districtwide safety plan itself — and the board invited questions from the public.

A district staff member who led the presentation said the document aligns with state education law and the commissioner's regulations and described the plan as "a comprehensive multi hazard school safety plan that covers all the buildings in the district." The presenter noted this year's changes are minimal and largely clerical (dates, training updates), but identified the code of conduct as the one document with substantive additions, including required DASA language and a newly added section addressing corporal punishment reflecting new state regulations. The presenter also said building-level emergency plans are developed locally with principals and key staff and are not available for public view.

Board members and attendees praised staff execution of drills and daily safety procedures; one board member said the district conducts shelter-in-place responses frequently and thanked administration for consistent implementation. The presenter reminded the board that the district must adopt the plan by Sept. 1 and that the districtwide plan and its public-facing materials will be posted on the statewide safe schools website.