Task force discusses school safety

Recommendations include having a proper number of school resource officers

FAYETTEVILLE — The School Safety and Security Task Force presented six recommendations to the School Board during Thursday’s meeting.

The task force is comprised of members from law enforcement and the judicial system, experts in safety and security, elected officials and School District employees. It will focus on evaluating the safety of buildings and campuses. The task force was assembled in March and was announced as part of a larger plan to assess facility security, student mental health and faculty training.

Superintendent John L Colbert and Frank Johnson Sr., director of investigations for Walmart and former Fayetteville Police chief, lead the task force.

The first recommendation is for Fayetteville schools to provide “an appropriate number of school resource officers for all schools, campuses and facilities based on available resources, student population and student needs.”

The task force further recommends, according to a presentation by Johnson,

compliance with recommendation No. 1 of the Arkansas School Safety Commission Executive Summary of Recommendations, which states “no campus should ever be without an armed presence when staff and children are present.”

Board President Justin Eichmann said any armed presence at schools must be student resource officers.

Arkansas Rep. David Whitaker, D-Fayetteville, said he agrees with Eichmann.

“The SRO is not just a cop. An SRO is an invaluable team member in that school setting. They are mentors when they are doing it right. They become more valuable dollar- for- dollar than any other armed presence,” said Whitaker, who’s a member of the task force along with Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville.

Eichmann also expressed his disappointment at the lack of state dollars directed to school safety and security measures. “We are going to find some way to afford these things,” Whitaker told Eichmann. “This is something I want to carry back to my colleagues and see what we can do for you.”

Along with the possible addition of resource officers, the task force recommended adding a budget line item in the School District’s annual budget to provide money for safety enhancement, including appointing of a director of safety and security to manage the program and supervise officers.

The task force also recommended implementing a more robust threat assessment program to identify and prevent acts of targeted school violence, such as an anonymous reporting system for suspicious activity or behavior.

A few board members pointed out any safety and security measures — such as anonymous reporting — should be done carefully so as to not create a climate of fear.

“We need to not get too scared or freaked out by this. If that does happen, kids who don’t fit in get picked on and it gets in the way of learning,” board member Bob Maranto said. “We also have to make sure public schools stay public where we remain open to parents and people coming in to see what is going on.”

Another recommendation is starting the Choose Love Enrichment Program, which is free to schools. The social and emotional learning program has been used schoolwide at Washington Elementary School since 2016.

The district should address the hardening of schools, campuses and facilities, according to the task force recommendation. This would include enhancing/upgrading video surveillance capability, using technology that could be shared with the law enforcement, more robust school drills, a more well-developed evacuation plan for each school and additional training of staff and resource officers.

Many of the upgrades were suggested by SafePlans, a company specializing in school safety and security, which did security assessments on all Fayetteville schools in March and April to identify areas were working well and what needs improvement in terms of safety and security and to determine any barriers to the overall school security.

SafePlans representative Chris Powell presented a report and recommendations from the company to the School Board. One criticism in the report was the age and quality of some school video surveillance systems.

The district has started to address this issue, Colbert said. It will be updating four schools’ systems per year on a nine-year plan, he said.

Powell also suggested the district consider changing classroom doors to lock from the inside, not just the outside. This could be expensive, and he also said it’s also important just to “keep doors locked at all times. I know it’s an inconvenience, but better to be inconvenience than to be unsafe.”

The report can be viewed on the July agenda at fayar.net under the “Leadership” then “Board of Education” tabs.

The final recommendation by the task force is the district support, establish and maintain a comprehensive, common, communication system connecting school officials, students, parents, law enforcement and other stakeholders.

The board is set to vote to move forward with the recommendations at next month’s board meeting. In the meantime, the board and Colbert discussed the task force working to further prioritize the presented list and develop an action plan to implement its recommendations.