School Budget Vote and Board Election - May 21

The East Greenbush CSD has proposed a school budget for 2024-25 that maintains all programs and services with a 0.55% tax levy increase, which is within the NYS Property Tax Cap. Residents will also vote on a $116 million capital project that would improve school facilities and grounds across the district with no impact to local taxpayers, the replacement of eight school buses, which if approved by voters, will be fully paid for by the Bus Purchase Reserve Fund, and elect three individuals to the Board of Education.

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East Greenbush CSD and East Greenbush Police Department Offer Safety Training to Parents

Jan 5, 2024 | District

Detective Sergeant Mike Guadagnino leads a safety training for East Greenbush CSD parents and guardians on Thursday evening in the Columbia High School auditorium.

Detective Sergeant Mike Guadagnino leads a safety training for East Greenbush CSD parents and guardians on Thursday evening in the Columbia High School auditorium.

In an effort to provide more safety training and information to parents and guardians, the East Greenbush Central School District and East Greenbush Police Department hosted a Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) Training on Thursday evening in the Columbia High School auditorium.

Officer Ed Ashley

Officer Ed Ashley

Detective Sergeant Mike Guadagnino and Officer Ed Ashley, who serves as the School Resource Officer at Columbia, provided the two-hour training that covered the following topics:

  • History of active shooter events
  • Civilian response options
  • Active shooter training and drills
  • Partnership between schools and law enforcement
  • Safety procedures in East Greenbush CSD schools

The training course was developed by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, a research-based active shooter response training program. It provides strategies, guidance and a proven plan for surviving an active shooter event.

Superintendent Jeff Simons wanted to offer the CRASE Training to parents/guardians so they could gain the same knowledge that all teachers and staff receive annually. 

“If there’s anything that you pick up tonight in terms of school safety, please leave here knowing that this particular program that we provide to students, faculty and staff, and now parents is part of a larger context of programs and activities that we do in coordination with law enforcement every day to make sure that the kids are safe,” he told the parents in the audience. “I believe that we are very fortunate to have the East Greenbush Police Department that works so seamlessly with us every day on planning.”

Detective Sergeant Mike Guadagnino

Detective Sergeant Mike Guadagnino

Det. Guadagnino led parents through a presentation with examples and videos from past incidents, tips for how civilians can protect themselves during acts of violence, and answered questions from the audience at the end. 

During the presentation he focused on the Three Stages of Disaster Response which are 1. Denial 2. Deliberation and 3. Decisive Moment. 

“We want you to get to deliberation as quickly as possible,” Sgt. Guadagnino told the audience. “As I tell teachers, don’t deny what you hear. Is it normal to hear gunshots in a building? No. So if you hear gunshots in a building, we need to move right to deliberation.”

Det. Guadagnino, Officer Ashley and Mr. Simons also discussed the swatting incidents that affected the East Greenbush CSD and other local schools last year and how lessons learned from the March 30 incident informed changes to safety plans. For example, should the school district receive a threat of violence when school buses are arriving in the morning, those buses would be directed off campus to confidential staging locations.

The school district offered free child care in the Columbia cafeteria and gym, which was supervised by Principal Michael Harkin and Athletic Director Ryan Jones, so that more parents/guardians could attend the event.

Also in attendance was East Greenbush Police Chief Elaine Rudzinski and principals Helen Squillace and Wayne Grignon.

For more information about East Greenbush CSD safety plans and procedures, visit www.egcsd.org/safety.