Angry parents demand increased security after intruder wanders around Eastchester school

The Eastchester Union Free School District says it is reviewing its security policies after an intruder was discovered at an elementary school last week.

News 12 Staff

Mar 1, 2020, 9:16 PM

Updated 1,510 days ago

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Parents at an Eastchester elementary school are furious after an intruder made his way past security and into the building on Friday.
Angry parents packed an emergency school meeting Sunday evening and demanded change following the incident.
Parents say they are disgusted after a homeless man was able to enter the front door of Waverly Elementary School and walk through the building unattended with children around.
The man was let into the school by a security guard who did not check his ID. He wandered through the building unattended for about seven minutes.
The man said he was going to the bathroom, but walked through multiple floors. He is accused of stealing money from at least one office.
A school official noticed something was wrong, and security eventually escorted the person out.
Parents are calling for accountability, and questioned why police weren't called for nearly an hour and why the school wasn't put on lockdown.
"You won't let someone in your house just because they rang the doorbell, right? You verify who they are and here in the Eastchester School District it seems like they let them in first and then their identity is verified, which is just backwards," says Pooja Sharma, a parent.
The Eastchester Union Free School District says it is immediately changing its building entrance policy. "A frontline defender failed. Then we have issues. It's up to us. We're going to find the root cause of that issue and any system issues we're going to fix," says Eastchester UFSD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Glass.
Officials say people will be vetted outside a set of locked doors before being allowed inside the school.
Eastchester police will monitor the elementary school on Monday. School officials will meet this week to discuss additional changes needed to be made to their security policies.
The security officer, who worked for an independent security company, has been suspended pending an investigation and is no longer working in Eastchester.
Charges are pending against the intruder, according to the district.
Eastchester schools were on a two-hour delay this morning for students today so that teachers and staff can go over security rules and protocols. 
There is extra police presence today at the Waverly School, and Eastchester police have increased patrols at other schools as well.
There is a meeting scheduled for this evening at  7 p.m. at the Anne Hutchinson School to discuss the new measures.
 
 
 
 


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