Nov. 18, 2022

Given the current climate that our nation is in, here at the New Hartford Central School District we recognize the need to remain vigilant in keeping our students and staff safe. We also recognize that the safety and security of your students is on many of your minds, as it is on ours.  

We have taken steps to enhance the security measures we already had in place. Some of the increased measures that have been implemented district-wide include hiring School Safety Officer (SSO) personnel at each school building, providing a limited number of keys to identified personnel, and restricting entry to our schools during the regular school day. We have also reminded our staff to be aware of their surroundings and to report anything unusual to an administrator or call 911 in an emergency.

The following protocols are in place during regular school hours. 

• All school building doors are locked.

• Doors should not be propped open or held open at any time.

• Building custodians are not responsible to let anyone in the building.

• Please do not come to a school building unless you are authorized to be there.

• If you need to come to a school for any reason, such as dropping off a student’s forgotten item, please first call the school’s main office for the elementary schools and the attendance office for the junior and senior high schools. 

For entry into a school building after regular school hours or on the weekend, please follow the protocols below.

School Associated Activities

For school-associated programs, such as extracurricular activities, sports, clubs, Masque, marching band, etc., please use the designated entrance (location determined by activity) for entry into the building. The coordinator of the activity should be at the door to let people in. If they cannot be at the door, they should assign an adult to monitor the door who can stay there until everyone has arrived or until that person can be relieved by the next person that is in the same activity. That will continue until all participants are present for the activity. 

If arriving late to an activity, please contact the program coordinator so they can allow access to the building.

Non-School Associated Activity

For non-school associated activities, such as PTA, community organizations, youth organizations, youth sports organizations, etc., please contact the person in charge of the activity to gain access to the building. The contact person can assign an adult to monitor the door for anyone else coming to the building for the activity. If arriving late, please contact the person coordinating the activity to gain access to the building.

Safety is not convenient most of the time, but it is necessary with the various violent acts that have been happening around the country. We appreciate your patience in following the protocols above to help us keep those within our facilities safe and secure. If you have questions or concerns about any of the protocols above, please reach out to the building principal.