TOMS RIVER, NJ — As the 2018-19 school year opens with ongoing heightened concerns about security, the Toms River schools started the school year with armed police officers in every school in the district — Class III officers, who are retired and paid on a per diem basis for the work.

The district also started the year with an active shooter training situation involving the dstrict's entire security team, including school resource officers (SROs), Class III and Class II officers, and school safety officers. The training event was held on Tuesday, the day before classes started, the district said in a news release. A training session for school district administrators was held in August at Toms River Intermediate North. The Toms River Township Council approved an ordinance to hire the Class III officers — recently retired police officers and New Jersey State Troopers — to patrol the schools, with the township and the district splitting the cost.

"Above all else, the safety and well being of our children and staff is our most important responsibility and these latest enhancements to that end certainly are a testimony to this," Superintendent of Schools David Healy said, expressing gratitude for the partnership the district has with the police department. "We appreciate the great working relationship with the mayor and council as well as Superintendent Healy and for everyone working so diligently to get this program started," Toms River Police Chief Mitch Little said. "The new Class III Program is only part of a bigger preventative plan. It's developing a safety program working with the schools and making those locations the safest they can possibly be."



It's not just the Toms River Police Department working with the district; the Beachwood, Pine Beach and South Toms River police departments along with the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and Toms River Township officials all have contributed to enhancing security, the district said. "It's important for the police department and the entire Toms River Schools community to be on the same page," Little said. "Interaction and information sharing are key components. They have to know what our job is and we have to know how they're going to react to certain situations. Teamwork is paramount."

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