Taking Campus Security Seriously

by Joe Sheppard

Veteran faculty member Frank Mastrangelo P’15, ’18 is LA’s director of campus safety and security. He has a new office in a handsomely remodeled building on the LA South campus, the former Country Day School of the Holy Union, and it is filled with the tools of his trade, mostly electronic. Forty-seven security cameras, fed to a huge wallmounted monitor, keep a vigilant eye on busy places on campus. Through his cell phone and radio, Frank has instant links to local police, firefighters, and EMTs, as well as to access relevant student information when needed.

Long involved with the Boston Marathon medical committee, Frank oversaw the finish-line medical team in 2013, when they became key first responders following the bombing at that year’s marathon. When he returned to LA as athletic trainer after a few years at another school, the horrific experience at the marathon made him realize that Lawrence needed a comprehensive safety program. “I was excited to come back,” he recalls, “but I said to myself, ‘There’s not much they have in place here. What are they going to do in the event of a disaster like the bombing?’ I realized that we needed to have a plan of action.”

Frank found a flip chart with instructions on how to react to different situations created by a former faculty member. It was “a good start,” he notes, “but nobody’s going to run to a flip chart when something happens.” Moreover, Lawrence Academy had no fast means of school-wide communication, which was Frank’s biggest concern.

Frank explained the situation to Head of School Dan Scheibe, who appointed him as LA’s director of safety in 2014. From the start, Frank involved both state and local police departments (he is an active member of the latter) and carried out drills using protocols he created with other members of the school’s crisis response team.

The flip charts are no more. AEDs (automatic external defibrillators) have been installed throughout campus — 28 in total, in every building and on each athletic field — along with an alarm system allowing instantaneous communication in the event of an accident or other life-threatening incident. State-mandated fire and crisis drills are carried out four times a year with assistance from Groton public safety personnel. “We always tell everyone that it’s a drill, so they have an awareness of what’s going on,” Frank notes. “A lot of kids are concerned, and rightly so, about some of the active shooter situations that have occurred in the U.S.”

Frank now fully devotes his time to keeping campus safe and secure, having retired his athletic trainer’s hat after 32 years. It’s a big job: as of last fall, three trained safety officers from an outside company are part of the team that patrols campus from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, following a detailed protocol prepared by Frank.

Another important source of support for the Office of Safety and Security is the Student First Responders Club, which Frank started in 2020. The club focuses on acknowledging first responders and addresses the school community frequently at assemblies on topics ranging from the dangers of texting and driving to lifesaving procedures.