School Safety and Security

•  Emergency Management Plan – The Morris Hills High School Crisis Management Plan serves as an operating guide for a wide range of emergencies. It is developed in coordination with local police, fire, and emergency agencies.
• Emergency Blue Strobe Lights / Sirens – The Morris Hills Regional District has installed emergency blue strobe lights and sirens in both the interior and exterior areas of Morris Hills High School. The blue lights and sirens will alert our students and staff members that the school is in an emergency lockdown situation. The blue strobe lights and sirens will alert parents and visitors on campus about emergent situations. If you arrive on campus and see the flashing strobes and hear the sirens, you will know that we are in lockdown and you should not enter the building. Please do not exit your car or approach the building for any reason. It is best to leave the area safely.
•  ALICE Protocol – For the 2024 – 2025 school year, the Morris Hills Regional District has once again adopted a response protocol for active intruder situations. This protocol has been adopted under the recommendation of the Rockaway Borough Police Department. Please visit www.alicetraining.com for more information.
• 911 Inform – 911 Inform is designed primarily to allow faculty members to use smart phones, tablets, computers, or any web-connected device to provide real-time information with regard to emergency situations to first responders and colleagues. 911 Inform enables full situational-awareness and communication across multiple platforms allowing for total transparency into any situation where a 911 request for emergency services occurs, to include both landline and wireless calls.
• Security Cameras – Multiple cameras have been installed throughout the Morris Hills High School campus (building, grounds, and buses). The Rockaway Borough Police have access to these cameras and are monitoring the cameras 24 hours a day / 7 days a week to keep our campus safe and secure
• School Resource Officer – Morris Hills High School has a full time School Resource Officer (Rockaway Borough Police Officer) present in the building to ensure safety and security of students and staff. The SRO for the 2024 – 2025 school year is Officer Kevin Kukan.
• Class 3 Officer – Morris Hills High School has a full time Class 3 Officer present in the building to ensure safety and security of students and staff. The Class 3 Officer for the 2024 – 2025 school year is retired Madison Chief of Police Darren Dachisen. An additional Class 3 Officer will be added to Morris Hills High School staff in October.
• Additional After-school Police Presence on Campus – A Rockaway Boro Police Officer or Wharton Boro Police Officer will continue to be present on campus monitoring the school grounds (inside and outside).
•  Threat Assessment Team – Morris Hills High School has established a Threat Assessment Team for the 2024 – 2025 school year. The purpose of a Threat Assessment Team is to provide school teachers, administrators, and other staff with assistance in identifying students with behaviors of concern, assessing those students’ risk for engaging in violence or other harmful activities, and delivering intervention strategies to manage the risk of harm for students who pose a potential safety risk. Threat assessment teams’ purpose is also to prevent targeted violence in the school and to ensure a safe and secure school environment that enhances the learning experience for all members of the school community.
• Gaggle – Morris Hills High School will utilize Gaggle for the 2024 – 2025 school year. Gaggle uses a powerful combination of technology and human intelligence to review students’ use of online tools and provide real-time analysis of potentially concerning behavior or content. Gaggle alerts school officials if students show signs of self-harm, depression, thoughts of suicide, substance abuse, cyberbullying, credible threats of violence against others, or other harmful situations.
• Navigate 360 – Morris Hills High School will utilize Navigate 360 for the 2024 – 2025 school year. Navigate 360 is technology software that scans public social media accounts identifying threats made towards Morris Hills High School.
• Security Vestibule / Lock Box – Morris Hills High School will once again be utilizing a security vestibule / lock box for the 2024 – 2025 school year. If you need to drop an item off at school to your child, please leave that item in the lock box. A security staff assistant will then secure the item and place it in the security vestibule cubbies. A member of the staff will then pass that item onto your child.
• Transportation Security Measures – Morris Hills High School has implemented transportation security measures for the 2024 – 2025 school year. Devices have been installed on all of our buses that will store bus routes, provide audible directions, and store names and pictures of students assigned to each route. Students will be required to display their IDs when boarding all buses. As the bus arrives at an approved MHRD bus stop, installed tablet devices will display students boarding or disembarking. Student ID cards will be scanned to confirm their arrival or departure. This will help to account for all students and ensure that only assigned riders are present.
• Security Staff Assistants – Morris Hills High School has multiple Staff Assistants positioned throughout the building to monitor the safety of our students (cafeteria, hallways, common areas, and the security desk).
•  Security Drills – Each month, Morris Hills High School runs both evacuation and emergency drills to provide students and staff with an opportunity to practice our emergency protocols.
• Mental Health Awareness – Mental health awareness is an important issue for all educators. As educators, we know we have a complex task ahead of us with regard to dealing with the stress and anxiety that our students face on a daily basis. We continue to implement mental health initiatives to help assist our students.

 In today's world, school safety and security can no longer be taken for granted. We can no longer act as if the worst case of unimaginable violence "won't happen at Morris Hills High School." School violence can occur anywhere. The list of schools affected by school violence continues to grow each day. As a school community, we should all consider the following and review with our students:

• Keeping our eyes and ears open for anything out of the ordinary or for anything suspicious – “See something – Say something – RIGHT AWAY.”
• Continuing to abide by our school visitor protocol.
• Reporting anything suspicious to the MH Administration, Officer Kukan, or Officer Dachisen immediately.
•  Stressing the importance to our students to avoid "going through the motions" during our security drills.
•  Encouraging our students to report any threats posted on social media or any suspicious behavior.
• Sharing feedback with administrators, Officer Kukan, and Officer Dachisen on a regular basis to improve protocol and procedures.