Newport News schools provide security updates
Metal detectors, more security officers due by mid-March
All Newport News schools will have new weapons detection systems installed and ready for use by March 14, administrators told the school board Tuesday evening. Principals, assistant principals and security officers will be trained to use them.
Chief of Staff Rashard Wright and Chief Operations Officer Rusty Fairheart provided the update on safety and security efforts in the wake of the Jan. 6 shooting of first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner by a 6-year-old student in her class. The shooting led to widespread criticism about the division’s security practices and how administrators how student discipline.
Fairheart said the district already has six of the new weapons detection units, two of which are being used at Richneck. The remaining units are expected to be delivered by the end of the month.
“We’re working closely with school leadership to identify priority schools based on discipline infractions and incidents at those particular locations,” he said.
Fairheart said the new detectors allow users to set thresholds for how sensitive the system is, and settings will be determined based on recommendations from the vendor and other school districts.
“One of the great functions is the decreased false positives, and that’s due to our ability to establish the threshold that gets kids into the building and visitors into the building at a rapid pace,” he said.
In addition to the weapons detection systems, the seven pre-K and elementary schools that began the school year without a dedicated
security officer will have one by March 1. By March 14, all sites will have at least two security officers. The division is hosting a security job fair from 9 to noon Saturday at Crittenden Middle School, 6158 Jefferson Ave., and hopes to hire all remaining officers then.
Wright said the school division also is bringing in a security consultant to conduct an assessment of all buildings.
“As you know, we have buildings that have different entrances.” Wright said during the meeting. “And we want to make sure that the health and safety of our students and staff is our priority. So to have an assessment will allow us to look at soft and hard potential threats.”
The school division also is giving the Newport News Police Department access to buildings using key-cards, and allowing the access to camera footage in emergency situations. Sheriff ’s deputies will be at schools during arrival and dismissal times.
Wright said the division also is addressing student behavior concerns at the
elementary level.
“We’re going to have the first of a number of sessions to talk about our pre-K through 5 students that may be exhibiting some challenging behaviors,” Wright said, noting that the first session was to take place Wednesday. “We’ve heard from our teachers that there are often some distractions to the school environment. But the deeper piece is, we’d like to get to the root cause around what may be causing some of our young people to not feel as settled.”
Wright said the division is working on an alternative program for K-5 students. Interim Superintendent Michele Mitchell said the division intends to have the program in place this academic year.
“The goal is to get them support and then to get them back in the traditional setting, and back in a way where there’s no distraction to the school environment,” Wright said.
The division also is working to add more schoolbased support specialists who can assist teachers in responding to challenging behaviors.
In addition to security measures, the division is forming three advisory committees focused on school safety, family engagement and student rights and responsibilities. Parents, employees and community members can apply online to serve on one of these committees, which will begin meeting next month. The application deadline is March 3. To apply, visit nnschools.org.
Many of these new measures come as a direct result of feedback from teacher roundtable discussions and surveys in January.
The survey also showed that teachers wanted more clear and transparent communication from the central office.
Crystal Haskins, the division’s director of equity, assessment and strategic operations, said several recommendations come from analysis of the roundtable and survey results — including heightened security measures, informative and timely communication efforts, action-oriented decision making, consistency in language and
expectations and measures for accountability. Other recommendations include revisiting safety and behavior structures and training, increasing mental health initiatives and events, and celebrating the positive.
Mitchell said division leaders also are working on a comprehensive communications plan.
“It’s clear that one of the areas that we need to focus on immediately is creating a clear and consistent communication plan,” she said. “So we will be working on communication within this building (central office), but we also will be working on a plan on how does the communication come from central office into your school, and ensuring that it goes from your building leaders to you in a timely manner.”
The division is also conducting a discipline referral audit to examine how discipline referrals from teachers have been addressed. Mitchell said she expects a report to be ready in the next two weeks.