Safety, Security & Compliance

Student and staff safety is our first priority. The South Orangetown Central School District is continually reviewing, assessing and strengthening its procedures to ensure a healthy and secure learning environment for all.

Anonymous Alerts

Any students who witnesses or is the victim of an act of harassment, bullying, or hazing should report it directly to an adult at school. If unable to reach an adult directly, students and parents may use Anonymous Alerts, a web-based tool, to report an incident related to harassment, bullying, hazing or discrimination.

The Anonymous Alerts system is monitored between the hours of 8:30AM to 3:30PM during regular school hours on days when students are in session, and an investigation, where actionable, will commence within 2 school days of receipt of the report. Do not use this system to report issues requiring immediate assistance; in the event of an emergency, call 911.

Closings, Delays & Early Dismissals

View information on the Closings, Delays & Early Dismissals webpage

Emergency Preparedness & Response

When an emergency occurs, school officials evaluate the seriousness of the situation and determine the best plan of action to respond quickly, safely and appropriately. Families play an important role in prevention, preparedness and response. We need your support so that our school district can respond quickly, safely and appropriately in the event of an emergency.

Visit the Emergency Preparedness webpage

Environmental Health

SOCSD strives to provide safe, secure learning and work environments for our students and staff through comprehensive training, consistent facilities maintenance and enhancements, continuous monitoring and implementation of procedures aligned with industry best practices and Board policy. 

Visit the Environmental Health Webpage

Offender Registry

The Orangetown Police Department notifies SOCSD whenever a Level 2 or Level 3 New York State registered sex offender relocates to our community. The District notifies staff and parents of current students via email on behalf of OPD with a link to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services Sex Offender Registry.

School Security

The South Orangetown Central School District, in partnership with the Orangetown Police Department, has two full-time School Resource Officers as well as armed (concealed carry) and unarmed security guards, most of whom are retired from law enforcement, serving its schools.

Security staffing is just one of many components of the District’s safety and security program, which includes building and district safety plans and drills, building and district level threat assessment teams, a visitor management system, surveillance cameras, as well as secured entries and door ajar alarms.

In addition, extensive, ongoing efforts to promote a positive, welcoming and inclusive school culture–including social emotional learning and character education programming, School Support Teams, Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports, Dignity for All Students Act and the Anonymous Alerts reporting–help us to identify and respond to emerging student needs and support students’ mental, social and emotional wellbeing.

Visiting SOCSD

SOCSD encourages strong family and community engagement in our schools. To ensure the safety of our students and staff, all visitors to our buildings are screened and monitored.

A digital visitor management system is utilized by all four South Orangetown Central School District schools to screen visitors, contractors and volunteers entering our schools and enhance our ability to provide a safe environment for students and staff.

• All visitors who wish to enter a school building beyond the security desk and parents/guardians who pick up their children earlier than the normal dismissal time will be required to present government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, to the security guard.
• The ID will either be scanned or manually entered into the visitor management system.
• Once cleared, the security guard will return visitors’ ID, ask them to sign in and provide them with a pre-printed badge with their photo on it to wear at all times in the building
• Visitors are then directed to proceed to their destination. Visitors are approved only to go to the specific destination requested and may not go to any other area of a school without returning to the security desk for approval.
• Upon leaving the school, visitors must sign out at the security desk and return the badge to the security guard. Returned badges will be destroyed upon receipt.
• Screening will occur at all schools during the school day only: 9:15AM-3:30PM for WOS and CLE and 8:15AM-3:00PM for SOMS and TZHS.

Visitors who do not have a government-issued ID may present an official document bearing their full name and date of birth, such as a birth certificate, voter registration card, insurance card, Medicaid card or bank card. These visitors will be required to have their photograph taken by the security guard to be entered into the system for screening.