Lagrange Mother Sneaking into Arlington High School Raises the Reoccurring Safety Debate
Security concerns are at an all-time high for Arlington parents, staff and faculty, as a mother disguised as a student entered the school to watch her daughter fight, Jan. 17, 2023.
Thirty-Three year-old Valerie Albelo was arrested on Jan. 22 and was charged with two misdemeanors: criminal trespassing in the 3rd degree and endangering the welfare of a child.
Following the arrest, Dr. Dave Moyer, Arlington’s Superintendent of Schools, issued the following statement vowing to improve the school’s safety:
“I commend our staff and Arlington High School safety personnel who intervened immediately during the altercation and quickly identified the parent who entered the high school without approval. We would like to thank the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office for their thorough investigation of this incident and the subsequent arrest. We are aware of the seriousness of this parent’s actions and the impact on school safety. We have been reviewing our procedures for student arrival and tightening our security protocols at Arlington High School.”
Dutchess County Sheriff Kirk Imperati praised the school district and the Sheriff’s office’s diligence in handling the incident:
“I would like to thank the Arlington Central School District and the School Resource Officer from the Sheriff’s Office for their diligent and thorough joint investigation into this incident. The close partnership that we enjoy with Dr. Moyer and the Arlington District went a long way towards bringing this case to a successful conclusion, and I am grateful that someone will be held accountable for their actions during this troubling and unfortunate incident.
The high school has a strict visitor policy — requiring parents and other guests to schedule an appointment, show a photo ID to a camera before being buzzed in, then finally reporting who they are and whom they have an appointment with.
After the incident took place, the high school reimplemented their ID policy, checking student ID’s during arrival every morning. If you don’t have an ID with you, you are brought over to a line to receive an orange sticker with your name on it.
“I feel like they don’t trust you anymore if you don’t have it” said Madison Stolarski, a junior at Arlington High School. She continued by saying that at the beginning of every period there is an announcement to remind teachers to enforce the ID policy in the classroom. “I think [IDs] will help in the case of an emergency, like if we had to leave the school, or a lockdown and the police need to know who you are,” Madison said.
She continued to say that the main lobby is now closed to foot traffic during passing periods to prevent people coming in during the massive crowds of students.
Madison’s mother, Amanda Stolarski, didn’t find out about the event until a few hours later on Facebook, and Madison didn’t find out about it until she got home from school that day. “Facebook had a lot of angry people with the school, my initial reaction was being really angry with the parent,” Amanda said. “I felt as a parent and a teacher, that is a direct violation of my child’s safety.”
There are a lot of questions about what the future for Arlington’s security looks like with similar events happening in the past. For instance, a mother entering the school to fight a student, and most recently a student being stabbed to death in the parking lot after a football game.
Amanda’s husband works at Poughkeepsie High School, where all students and faculty must enter through metal detectors and scan in with their IDs. “Unless you are committing to some kind of system like that, there is an element of vulnerability,” Amanda said.
“There is security everywhere, there is police, it’s like getting into an airport,” Madison explained. At football games, you have to go through metal detectors and must be accompanied by an adult if you are under the age of 21.
One last thing Amanda notes is that Arlington parents are asking for transparency with future events. “I know my principal sends out immediate notifications to families as soon as you have to call anything,” Amanda said, as a teacher for the FDR school district. Little has been said by Arlington Central School District about their future safety plans, but as Amanda also states, it is on parents to attend these school board meetings to get their voices heard if they want any change.
