At Connetquot, he's prepared to protect

As Alan Groveman spoke, his office intermittently

buzzed with the static from a police scanner on his desk. Turning down the

scanner's volume, the Connetquot schools superintendent then explained that he

tunes in to keep abreast of possible hazards such as fires near a district

campus or traffic tangles that could delay buses.

It's the same office where recently he sat down with a copy of a notebook

filled with writings outlining a troubled teenager's plot to shoot and kill his

classmates at the high school. The 15-year-old, whom Newsday is not naming

because he's charged as a juvenile, and Michael McDonough, 17, a student in

another district, have been arrested on a misdemeanor fifth-degree count of

conspiracy to purchase guns and an explosive powder.

As he began to read the black spiral-bound notebook, Groveman said one

thought quickly leaped to mind: "It was very reminiscent of Columbine."

Groveman has devoted years to learning about school safety, and the

notebook's troubling sentiments echoed much of what he has heard in numerous

terror preparedness training sessions, including those led by Colorado

investigators who worked on Columbine. He said he attends about 15 to 20 safety

seminars each year on topics such as radioactive leaks, hazardous materials

and intruders.

"The idea of letting someone else's children get hurt when I'm watching

over them tears me up," he said.

And he knows about bracing for the worst, because he has often seen it

firsthand. Groveman, 56, married with two grown sons, has been a volunteer

Commack firefighter for the past 15 years and a volunteer EMT with the

ambulance corps for three years. "I hate standing by and not being able to do

anything," he said.

Fred Koelbel, superintendent of buildings and grounds for the West Islip

district, was on a panel in May with Groveman about school disaster planning at

the Long Island-NYC Emergency Management Conference.

"He's a superintendent who realizes this matters even when it's hard to get

others to focus on it," Koelbel said.

Suffolk Police Det. Lt. Edward Reilly of the Fifth Squad praised Groveman's

handling of the notebook: "A timely and quick response by him and the staff

was instrumental in the investigation."

The notebook was found July 6 in the parking lot of a Bohemia McDonald's

restaurant where the teens worked. It was later turned in to a clerk at the

high school, and Groveman was notified. He directed security staff to make a

copy of it, then handed over the original to police.

Afterward, sitting in his office, Groveman took about half an hour to read

it from beginning to end. Its writer, he said, seemed to have a "general

dislike" for people.

"He certainly sounded angry and frustrated, but there did not appear to be

any specific reference to being bullied or mistreated by anyone in school," he

said.

Last week, on the day heavy rain caused chaos Islandwide, a pair of rubber

firefighter boots stood near Groveman's office door. He had worn them as he

addressed electrical problems in district buildings that day. But he says he

never goes on fire calls while at work.

Enough potentially dangerous situations await in his schools. In April and

May, graffiti in a bathroom indicated a bomb would explode. In May, a fake bomb

was found at the high school while Groveman happened to be in Brentwood

attending a police seminar on bomb threats.

Earlier this year, the recently arrested 15-year-old communicated online

that there would be a threat on his birthday in June. Officials monitored him

as the date approached, and the day came and went without incident.

The arrests have highlighted issues Groveman seems uniquely positioned to

address - protecting a school from terror and exploring youthful psyches. He

started in education as a school psychologist in Queens in 1973, and one of his

two master's degrees is in psychology. He holds a doctorate from Columbia

University in education.

In the days since reading the notebook, Groveman continues to struggle with

a question that has remained unanswered in all the seminars he has attended:

How seriously should he and other school staff members take each situation? "To

call police and throw a kid out of school anytime a child says, 'I want to

kill my teacher,' anyone would say is an overreaction.'"