Cazenovia — The issue of school security and student safety remains a top priority for Cazenovia district administration, and recently the board of education heard a presentation of proposals for how the district can best utilize an incoming state grant award of $813,000 to improve the district’s security and emergency preparedness.

The grant, through the Smart Schools Bond Act, is earmarked for specific use in district technology and security infrastructure improvements, said Superintendent Matt Reilly.

“There’s really a broad range of possibilities here,” Reilly said. “There’s many ways to do this … let’s make the most of [the grant funding].”

District Facilities Director Matt Erwin and Information Technology Director Chris Hennigan presented district infrastructure needs to the school board during its Nov. 16 regular meeting to inform the board where the grant funding could be spent. Some of those needs on the technology side include high-speed wireless internet connectivity, high-tech security upgrades, acquisition of learning technology and replacement of fiber cables at Burton Street Elementary school, they said. For security, the district needs items like additional security cameras, updated alarms, upgraded staff door access cards and a district-wide radio communication system. This latter item, which would improve internal communications during an emergency situation, is “one of our biggest holes now,” Hennigan said.

The presentation by Erwin and Hennigan, and the discussion of how to best utilize the incoming state grant funds, comes on the heels of the school board’s October meeting, during which Reilly read aloud a letter from a parent asking what the district was doing to review and improve its emergency situation procedures. The letter referenced the 2014 incident at Cazenovia High School when two bullets were found on a hallway floor, which precipitated a lockdown and police investigation.

Reilly, who was not superintendent during the 2014 incident, said the district team has been addressing this issue in its regular meetings and already has plans to perform a “lockdown” drill in December to prepare for just such an emergency. Reilly said the district also hopes to have two more lockdown drills in the spring.

continued — “Every year our response plans and safety protocols are reviewed with an eye toward improvement. I think well get better every year and one way is through practice, which is what we’ll do,” he said at the October meeting. “My belief is that we need to get as good at lockdown drills as we are at fire drills.”

Reilly said the level of “precision” and “automaticity” with which Cazenovia staff and students handle fire drills is an impressive thing to see, and the district is striving for that same high level of execution in lockdown drills — a sentiment he repeated at the board’s November meeting.

Now that the district has identified a number of potential uses for the state grant, the next step will be to meet with the school board’s facilities committee, refine and narrow down the plans and get feedback from the public and the various district stakeholders, Hennigan said.

Eventually the district will schedule a public hearing to share the various ideas and solicit public input.

Also at the meeting, board Member Lisa Lounsbury said the board plans to undertake another big advocacy push in Albany for the elimination of the state’s Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) in general, and a recoup of money for the Cazenovia district in particular. In the past five years, the Cazenovia Central School District has lost $6.2 million dollars in state aid due to the GEA, and increasingly been forced to dip into its reserve funds each budget cycle.

The Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) was first introduced for the 2010-11 fiscal year by former Gov. David Paterson as a way to help close New York’s then $10 billion budget deficit. Under the legislation, a portion of the state’s funding shortfall is divided among all school districts in New York based on a formula, and each district’s state aid is then reduced accordingly. Essentially, the state allocates a certain amount of aid to schools each year, then takes away a portion of that aid through the GEA.

continued — The GEA was initially stated to be a temporary program, but it has continued unabated with no end in sight.

Cazenovia officials lobbied its state legislators diligently last year against the GEA, and will renew its efforts again this year, said Lounsbury, who has been spearheading the school board’s advocacy efforts. Instead of beginning its advocacy efforts in January when the governor announces his budget proposal, as Cazenovia did last year, this year district officials are starting the advocacy now.

State Senator David Valesky visited the Cazenovia district in early November, during which the GEA was a major topic of discussion, and State Assemblyman Bill Magee is scheduled to visit Cazenovia in December to discuss the topic as well, Reilly said. Cazenovia will also be collaborating with other school districts around the region in its efforts, and will again seek to get the Cazenovia community involved in the outreach, Lousnbury said.

Any Cazenovia district residents interested in learning more about the GEA and how it affects the Cazenovia district, or interested in contributing to the district’s advocacy to eliminate the GEA should contact any member of the school board or the district superintendent.