Politics & Government

Danbury Hires Private Security for its Elementary Schools

Danbury will host a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Broadview Middle School, where parents will learn the details of a new system-wide security proposal.

The Danbury Board of Education will reveal its security plans for protecting students at its meeting Thursday.

What the public learned Wednesday is that Danbury has four police officers at Danbury High School, one each at Rogers Park Middle School and Broadview Middle School, and a private security officer at each of the city's 13 elementary schools.

The Danbury Board of Education is hosting the Broadview school security meeting, where parents will be able to ask questions about school safety. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said a new security proposal, one in addition to the private security firm hired this week at the elementary schools, will be revealed at the Broadview meeting.

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

This week Danbury hired Securitas, a national security firm with offices on Mill Plain Road, to provide a security officer for each elementary school.

Boughton said the system of having at least one security officer in each school may continue from now on. He declined to reveal what the new security plan is. School officials could not be reached Wednesday afternoon for comment.

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

When Danbury placed an officer at each school following the Dec. 14 attack on Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School, routine police work ground to a halt, Boughton said, because so many officers were working at schools. He said that can't continue.

"We did absolutely no policing that week," Boughton said.


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