Schools

Lindy Sticks To The Basics To Protect Students

Locked doors, security guards among the steps school district uses to keep schools safe.

Friday morning’s breaking news that a gunman shot and killed more than two dozen people, including 20 children, at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school shocked the nation and likely had Lindenhurst parents wondering what security measures are utilized by Lindenhurst schools.

Superintendent Richard Nathan told Patch that the school district has several steps in place to protect students and staff during school hours.

All doors at the elementary schools and middle school are locked, he said. At the high school, security is stationed at the entrance to the parking lot and at the building’s front door. Security cameras are also used.

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For full coverage of the Newtown elementary school shootings, visit our sister site Newtown Patch.

Earlier this year, school hour security procedures were put to the test when a man, Joseph Ciambriello, was seen looking through the windows at Harding Avenue Elementary School. After being denied access to the school by custodian Thomas A. Frey, Ciambriello fled and led police on a high-speed chase through parts of West Babylon and Lindenhurst. He is facing multiple charges.

Find out what's happening in Lindenhurstwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The school district would later honor Frey for what school officials said was his “quick thinking and action” when he quickly alerted school authorities to the presence of Ciambriello.

According to school district accounts of the incident, when Frey saw Ciambriello peering through the windows, he approached the man asking for identification. When Ciambriello could not produce any and claimed to be a security guard, Frey immediately alerted school district officials.

"I think his actions ultimately prevented anything worse from happening," Nathan said of Frey earlier this year.

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