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BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF PASCACK PRESS
TRENTON, N.J. — Less than a month after her life was taken tragically in a deadly school shooting at a Florida high school, former Woodcliff Lake resident Alyssa Alhadeff had a bill named in her honor March 12 which hopes to mandate panic alarms and emergency lights in New Jersey schools.
Nicknamed “Alyssa’s Law,” the bill (A-764) was initially introduced five years ago following the killing of 26 people at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., but it was vetoed twice by former Gov. Chris Christie, who doubted how effective alarms would be and preferred to wait for a task force report on school security. It was approved March 12 by the Assembly Education Committee.
The bill was referred to the Assembly appropriations committee; the committee vote is likely to occur within a month, said Alexandra Acosta, Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle’s chief of staff.
“It’s a tribute to Alyssa. Unfortunately when there’s a tragedy…by naming this after her, it gets noticed. Really, it’s a matter of boosting security measures. Every moment counts,” said Assemblywoman Huttle, a co-sponsor of the Assembly bill.
A companion bill (S-365) was introduced in January in the Senate by Sen. Ronald Rice.
The 2015 report said alarm installation decisions should be left up to local districts, and called for more research given the variety of alarm systems on the market.
The bill, reintroduced Monday and co-sponsored by six Assembly Democrats, requires that all public elementary and secondary schools be equipped with a so-called “panic alarm” for notification of authorities during a possible lockdown or active-shooter emergency.
According to the bill, the panic alarm should not be audible inside the school, but would notify local police. It also requires a red emergency light be attached outside a school that can be illuminated when the panic alarm has been activated.
“No family should ever have to endure the pain and grief that we are going through,” said Lisa Yakomin, executive director of Keep NJ Safe, reading a statement for the Alhadeff family at the Assembly meeting.
Yakomin said a few years ago, Alyssa attended public school in Woodcliff Lake and rode the bus with her daughter.
She said the bill to install alarms and external emergency lights “is simply about making our schools safer through enhanced notification of law enforcement.” Yakomin noted to the committee that in about six years since the bill was introduced 301 school-involved shooting incidents have occurred.
Assembly sponsors and supporters said the Feb. 14 shooting which claimed Alyssa Alhadeff’s life was a major impetus to reintroduce the bill.
“It is our hope that ‘Alyssa’s Law’ can help avoid another tragedy from happening by increasing school security and ensuring an immediate response from law enforcement and first responders,” continued Yakomin, reading the Alhadeff family statement.
Supporters include the state Principals and Supervisors Association, the New Jersey School Boards Association, and New Jersey Education Association. Co-sponsors include Assemblyman Ralph Caputo D-Nutley; Annette Quijano, D-Union; Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Englewood; Shavonda Sumter, D-Paterson; Cleopatra Tucker, D-Newark; and Angela McKnight, D-Jersey City.
The bill indicates likely funding from a facility projects state bond, with costs estimated from $2.5 million to $12.5 million for start-up and maintenance.
“The bill received strong bipartisan support, but in five years and four legislative sessions, there has never been a Republican Senate sponsor…and only one Republican Assembly sponsor,” who is no longer in the Assembly, said a statement released by the bill’s Democratic sponsors.
Hundreds of students at Pascack Hills High School in Montvale —which Woodcliff Lake and Montvale students attend—conducted a 17-minute walkout March 14 to honor the 17 Florida high school shooting victims, including Alhadeff. Following Alhadeff’s murder on Feb. 14, her mother, Lori, made a public plea to the president on CNN to halt the school killings occurring regularly in America.
Also, the U.S. women’s national soccer team honored Alhadeff during a match in Orlando March 7. A soccer teammate of Alhadeff’s in Florida had reached out to the national team following her death.
Waldwick’s Superdome sports arena honored Alhadeff during a community night March 18. Alhadeff had trained at the Superdome for soccer.
Alhadeff, an avid soccer player here and in Florida, lived in Woodcliff Lake from 2010 to 2014 before relocating with her family to Florida.