MONTVALE—The Pascack Hills High School chapter of the Make Our Schools Safe (MOSS) Club visited Fieldstone Middle School on May 28 to meet with the eighth-grade class. Members held a panel on topics ranging from drug/alcohol use to cyberbullying and social media.
High schoolers answered questions from eighth-graders and addressed their concerns. This event is part of the club’s mission to make a safer, more communicative school environment.
Make Our Schools Safe (MOSS) is a 501(c)3 national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting students and teachers at school. The organization was founded by the Alhadeff family, who lost their daughter Alyssa in the Valentine’s Day 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Alyssa and her family were former residents of Woodcliff Lake.
MOSS clubs are on-campus clubs of dedicated students who embody the principles and guidelines of the non-profit organization, whose mission is to empower students and staff to help create and maintain a culture of safety and a positive school environment. The MOSS club at Hills is the first of its kind in New Jersey.
The Pascack Hills chapter of the club was created this year by sophomore Ashley Schwartz. The club receives support from the Pascack Valley Regional School District and the Montvale and Woodcliff Lake Police Departments.
Sgt. Brian Lamendola of Montvale and P.O. Simon Sherfer of Woodcliff Lake work closely with the MOSS Club to improve the culture around school safety. The officers attended the event at Fieldstone with members of the Montvale Police Department. This event was critical in sharing the club’s mission and encouraging eighth graders to join the club as incoming freshmen.
In an email to Pascack Press, Schwartz said that she was inspired by the events in Parkland to “make a change and work to create a safer environment at PHHS.”
She worked hard to implement the club and told us, “I was diligent with my outreach when recruiting for the club. I sent a school-wide email providing information on MOSS and its mission, set up a table at our club fair, held a general interest meeting and started an Instagram account.”
The club’s message resonated with her fellow students. MOSS held its first meeting Sept. 27, 2023. Its 47 members spent the rest of the school year working diligently to create a safer environment for students and staff.
The club completed its first project in January. MOSS members created and displayed posters with a QR code linked to the ReachOut Crisis Hotline in the school bathrooms.
Created by the school district, the ReachOut Crisis Hotline is available for PVRHSD students and staff to engage in anonymous conversations through a voice call, text, or WebChat whenever they, or someone they know, need support.
The service provides support for various circumstances including suicidal thoughts, feelings of anxiety or depression and difficult life changes such as divorce.
Schwartz said that mental health is the main focus of the MOSS club. As part of their efforts to make Hills stigma-free, Dr. Carol Chu-Peralta attended a MOSS club meeting in March. Chu-Peralta is the founder of the Center for Resiliency, a psychology practice in Montvale. She spoke with the group about mental health trends among students.
The PHHS MOSS Club held an event May 1 in honor of Alyssa Alhadeff’s birthday. Hills students made kindness cards for friends or faculty to spread joy throughout the community. Schwartz told the Press that the event was very successful and the MOSS club is eager to put on more events.
Schwartz said, “We have plans to continue our collaboration with local organizations and professionals like Dr. Chu Peralta to raise awareness of mental health at Pascack Hills.”
Jane Yeam, advisor to the MOSS Club, told us that this first year of MOSS was a success.
She said, “From wanting to create an even more physically safer school to a more social and emotionally conducive space for her peers, Ashley Schwartz is a highly motivated leader and brings a lot of ideas to MOSS. It has been a pleasure to see her and other like-minded students come together to bring more awareness to the many different aspects of school safety and work towards their goals together this year with the Pascack Hills community.”
Alyssa’s Law
Gov. Phil Murphy signed “Alyssa’s Law” February 2019, requiring the installation of silent panic alarms in all public elementary and secondary schools. These alarms will alert law enforcement during emergencies such as an active shooter, or to employ an alternative emergency mechanism approved by the state Department of Education.