Few Recommendations From Consultant Included In School Safety Plan

By CHRISTOPHER KAZARIAN
Nearly 18 months after Falmouth public schools hired a consultant for $15,000 to improve school safety, few of his suggestions have been implemented in the district, according to school and public safety officials.
The consultant, Adam C. Thermos, president of Milford-based Strategic Technology Group, was hired in April 2007 following a series of events at Falmouth High School that included multiple bomb threats, arson, numerous fire alarms, and rumors of a shooting.
He had first been hired by the district seven years ago to help address safety and security issues. In 2003, his report was used as a guide in revising each school’s emergency response plans.
Superintendent of Schools Dennis A. Richards hired him to update those plans in the wake of last year’s incidents at the high school that left students, staff and parents frustrated, on edge, and looking to the administration for leadership.
Dr. Thermos said the result of his most recent work was compiled into a lengthy report that was given to the administration and focused on updating technology “which has not been implemented because of budget issues.”
“A lot of recommendations for technology that he made, like purchasing cameras, we did not have the funding to implement things like that,” Marc Dupuis, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and human resources, said.
Mr. Dupuis said that Dr. Thermos was involved in the security planning “to a point. He made a number of recommendations, some of them were modified or changed to more fit our particular needs.”
Following Dr. Thermos’s work, the district assembled a team last summer that included local public safety officials and district employees to formulate a safety plan for the high school that would later be revised for each individual school.
Included in that effort were Falmouth Police Captain Stephen M. O’Neil, as well as Falmouth Deputy Fire Chief Mark D. Sullivan, EMS Supervisor for Falmouth Fire Rescue Joseph A. Dehnick, and Lieutenant Timothy Smith of Falmouth Fire Rescue. On the school side, Robert W. Griffin Jr., a high school social studies teacher, and Susan E. Dowling, a high school teaching assistant, participated in that effort.
While Captain O’Neil said he saw an earlier draft of Dr. Thermos’s work, he said the report was not used in updating safety and security protocols. In addition, Dr. Thermos did not participate in any of these planning efforts, Capt. O’Neil said.
Instead, the district sent Ms. Dowling, Mr. Dehnick, and Captain O’Neil to a training course offered by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency that dealt with creating an all-hazard plan for all schools.
“We received a draft from MEMA and we used that as our model to make it specific to Falmouth High School,” Captain O’Neil said.
As to what role Dr. Thermos’s consultation played, it is unclear, but the majority of his recommendations do not appear to have been utilized in Falmouth.
Ms. Dowling and Mr. Griffin, who was assigned to the role of safety officer/inspector following last spring’s high school events, had met with Dr. Thermos a handful of times prior to the district’s going in a different direction.
“We were asked to work with him to help develop a plan,” Ms. Dowling said. “But he was more technology-based and the various types of suggestions, such as key cards, security cameras, the implementation of that stuff, as far as that goes, we couldn’t use that because the technology is not there yet in Falmouth.”
During the summer, Mr. Griffin said, the process of developing a plan included local officials who spent long hours preparing a school safety plan. “We came up with a plan, and we think it is very good,” he said.
Last August, Mr. Griffin and members of the group gave a preliminary report on the plan to the school committee. The plan focuses on emergency responses to various situations. The report was finalized in February, he said, and lock-down drills were conducted this past spring throughout the district using the plan as a guide.
The plan called for a school safety team to be established in the police department. That team includes Captain O’Neil, Falmouth police Sergeants Scott R. Hartzler and Michael C. Rogers, as well as Falmouth Police Officer David Braga. 
Captain O’Neil said their role will be to assist in any and every possible situation that could arise in schools, whether it is violent or non-violent, ranging from bomb threats to a hazardous chemical spill.
He, and others, stressed the plan makes the schools safer. “It is a good plan and in the last couple of years, this has opened up a dialogue between the schools and public safety, being the police and fire department,” Captain O’Neil said. “The cooperation at that level hasn’t been there for some time.”
Mr. Dupuis agreed, saying the plan “will go a long way to ensuring safety in our schools. We have made major strides in a positive direction as far as security in our buildings.”
Ultimately, Mr. Dupuis said, the plan will need to be continually updated and will include some of Dr. Thermos’s recommendations. He expected that one of these, a buzzer system at both the Lawrence and Teaticket schools, will be implemented sometime during the upcoming school year.