Voting @ Schools

Some parents have questioned the safety and security of our students on Election Day. Here is some information about the voting in Ridgewood on 11/4:

The District has been discussing and preparing for Election Day. Monday, Dr. Fishbein spoke with the Chief of Police. The police have not received any notices of imminent threats nor official alerts about security.

All of our schools, except Willard, are able to limit access to the polling areas, so that voters do not enter the rest of the school. For example, at Somerville, voters enter and exit the gym through dedicated gym doors, and not through the hallways. Willard, because of its design and the location of the voting, cannot do this. For this reason, there will be a police officer on duty at Willard all day on election day. (FYI, we did try to get the polling moved out of Willard and the county Election Commission denied the request.) Regular security procedures (locked doors, visitor sign-in, etc.) will be enforced for any person who enters the non-polling-place areas of any schools. In addition, police will do walk-throughs at every school building throughout the day.

It is not possible to deny voting at the schools (although feel free to bring that up with the county!). Without specific threats, closing the schools up to four or five times per year on election days is not practical.

The District's thinking is that persons entering our schools to vote are our neighbors, who come to the buildings several times a year on election days. I agree with Dr.Fishbein that it's important for students to see the democratic process in action.