Madison News Roundup

When school starts this fall, Madison, CT schools will have new video cameras monitoring entrances and exits  and parking areas.

The addition of the cameras is part of a collaboration between the school system and the Madison Police Department, according to an email from Madison Schools Superintendent David J. Klein.

Klein said the cameras will not be positioned in such a way as to monitor activity inside our school buildings. ” We are very excited about the implementation of this logical school safety enhancement and expect the cameras to be operational at each of our schools before the first day of the 2010-2011 School Year,” Klein wrote.

The campus security measure is part of a larger school/community safety project that has been in the works for the last 2 years. During that time, a School / Community Safety Team has been meeting monthly to discuss and analyze possible safety initiatives.  The team is composed of representatives from the Madison Police Department, Madison Dispatch, Madison and North Madison Fire Departments, the School Administration, the Director of Facilities, the Director of Health, and the Town Engineer.

“It is a very focused and knowledgeable team and we are appreciative of their expertise and sincere commitment to safety,” Klein wrote.  Safety initiatives that have already been completed or are being implementing this summer include:

• Upgrading existing signage and installing new school zone warning signage on the roadways in the vicinity of all Madison Public Schools.  This initiative provides better identification of the school locations and warns motorists of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic associated with the schools.
• Installing speed humps and associated warning signs at the Polson/DHHS Campus as a traffic calming measure intended to reduce vehicular speeds.
• Getting approval from the State Traffic Commission to establish a reduced speed zone on Green Hill Road in the vicinity of the Polson / Hand Campus.  The approval also provides the regulatory authority for Police Department enforcement of the reduced speed limit.
• Getting approval for a reduced speed zone on State Route 79 in the vicinity of the driveway for the Ryerson / Brown Campus.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 19th, 2010 at 11:47 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.