SCHOOL YEAR STARTS WITH ADDED SECURITY
‘I don’t think students can learn if they don’t feel safe,’ principal says
Slow carpool lines, flustered students, scheduling errors: The first day of school in Palm Beach County brought typical confusion, but loads of new security.
Students encountered more security personnel Monday, as well as many new
locked doors and closed gates. Teachers also funneled students into designated areas before the school day instead of letting them wander around campus.
New security measures were implemented for the first time after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre on Feb. 14.
“Security is definitely a priority,” said Allison Castellano, new principal at
Omni Middle School in Boca Raton. “I don’t think students can learn if they don’t feel safe.”
The school district reported its buses were mostly on schedule, a contrast to 2015 when the majority of buses were late or never came. The district attributed that fiasco to a “perfect storm” of
insufficient testing of new software, a shortage of bus drivers and inadequate communication with parents.
On Monday, students said they were conscious of the new security measures but unperturbed.
“I’m happy to be back,” said Omni seventh-grader Meygan Thompson, 12. “I did notice more security, but we’ve never felt unsafe here.”
Castellano, formerly principal at Banyan Creek Elementary School in Delray Beach, is ushering in several changes designed to improve the school’s security. Parents will need a parking decal to bring their children through the carpool line. Teachers must walk students to and from lunch. And students and teachers must wear their necklace IDs at all times.
Omni, like most middle schools, now has its own police officer as well as a police aide and school monitor. Among the monitor’s responsibilities is to check gates and doors to ensure they remain locked.
Similar additions were made at all of Palm Beach County’s 179 schools, which have 195,000 students in pre-school through 12th grade.
The district has 12,900 teachers, of whom 1,062 are brand new. Still, there are openings for more than 200 teachers. Their classrooms will be staffed with subs or school district personnel until the openings are filled.
Also new this year:
■ The district has purchased 157 new buses with money from a penny sales tax voters approved in 2016. The buses have air conditioning, video cameras and improved wheelchair capacity.
■ 17 schools have new principals, including Gerald Riopelle at Banyan Creek Elementary in Delray Beach and Michael Sabatino at Freedom Shores Elementary in Boynton Beach.
■ Students and parents can log in to a new Student Information System that shows them grades, graduation requirements, upcoming exams and calendars.
■ The district is working to hire 75 officers to comply with new safety laws; 50 are in the process of being screened. In the meantime, sheriff ’s deputies and city police officers will cover schools that lack a school district officer.
■ Four middle schools and 12 elementary schools got single points of entry over the summer. These limited entry points restrict the ways visitors can enter campuses. Most of the district’s schools now have these restricted entries, paid for with money from the sales tax.
Omni students were thrilled that one longtime restriction was relaxed this year: They no longer have to wear collared shirts, a requirement that had been designed to discourage distracting attire as well as clothing competition.
But the new principal decided to give students more freedom to choose their apparel, similar to the choices they will have in high school, she said. She is also allowing students to wear sweatpants every other Friday if their families make a $20 donation to the PTSA.
“Everyone’s much happier,” said Omni seventhgrader Sammie Anders, 12.