‘Safe Schools’ forum held
Staff, board members share tactics and techniques to work for school safety
TOWAMENCIN » North Penn School District employees, school board members and local law enforcement joined together Wednesday night to present a clear message to the community.
“We want to have a vibrant, and a safe, and secure school environment. As a school board member, I don’t think our minds are set up in any particular direction, and that’s exactly why we’re having this conversation tonight,” school board member Jonathan Kassa said.
“It’s not only to share with you, but for you to share your insights and concerns with us,” he said.
Kassa, chairman of the board’s Safe Schools committee, led a panel discussion that was moderated by Superintendent Curt Dietrich and included District Coordinator of Emergency Management Chris Doerr, school board Christian Fusco, Upper Gwynedd police Chief David Duffy, Montgomery County school safety specialist (and former Lansdale police Sergeant) Dean Miller, and district Director of Special Education and Student Services Dr. Jenna Rufo.
About 100 audience members saw a video presentation narrated by Doerr and outlining the district’s current security efforts and initiatives to protect over 13,000 students and 1,900 district employees in a total of 21 district facilities and over 170 school transportation vehicles.
“Each day, these investments, both visible and unseen, supple-
ment continual efforts by our staff to maintain a safe environment,” Doerr said.
Over the past five years the district has spent over $3.5 million to upgrade and harden entrances at each building, install defibrillators and Naloxone at each, and ensure that security staff and police from six local departments patrol each school each day.
A series of proposed security initiatives will be discussed by the board’s finance committee later this month, Doerr said, including a unified mass notification system throughout the district, enhancements to visitor entry and surveillance systems, a behavioral threat assessment study and new security staff uniforms.
Recent school shootings are the main topic of recent public discussion, Doerr said, but staff are also constantly discussing how to identify and resolve problems students have well before they take any potentially harmful action.
“While that terrible possibility has to be considered, it’s important to point out that, as the ones responsible for planning for school safety, we must consider all types of hazards,” Doerr said.
“We also have to be mindful of all phases of the emergency management cycle, both those that occur before an incident happens, in the prevention realm, and after in the response realm,” he said.
Police practice intruder drills with students, and more intensive drills with staff, Duffy said, and all six local departments communicate, plan and coordinate with each other as well as the district on a regular basis.
“I agree, we should prepare for the worst. It becomes a balance of, how much does that restrict normal school business every day? That’s a balance that the school district has to make a decision,” Duffy said.
A 10th-grade high school student said he has had experience with being bullied and falsely accused of things, and asked for details on the policies and procedures.
“We intensely follow up on any information that we’re given about a possible threat, and we have to vet that, talk to as many people as we need to, and get as much information as we can,” Duffy said. When should a parent or student take a concern to law enforcement? “Any time you want to,” Duffy replied.
An online question submitted through the district’s NPTV channel asked how the district helps students who are in distress before they become serious, and Rufo said staff are trained to build an individual, personal connection with each student.
“If a child or student is experiencing any type of emotional distress or challenge, we want to help them. We want to be there for them,” she said.
“One of the most important things is a connection with adults in the building, so that’s really what we’ve been working on building. Do students feel like they have someone they can talk to, that’s a safe person?” Rufo said.
Fusco, who is chairman of the school board’s Education, Community and Policy committee, said that group has heard staff and the community ask for more mental health support, and the district’s preliminary 2018-19 budget includes a new full time behavioral specialist, a half-day mental health case manager, two new elementary curriculum coordinators, and four new guidance counselors. The ECP committee is also looking into changes to its student cellphone policy with an aim to reduce bullying, and a student climate survey to take the pulse of what students see as strengths and needs.
“There’s been a very concerted effort to try to address these proactive steps,” Fusco said.
Does the district monitor social media? Not constantly, Doerr said, but “we have numerous people who monitor social media, and apply that ‘See something, say something’ mentality.”
“Anyone who becomes aware of concerning posts, or concerning language, on social media are encouraged to, and have, reported that. Those things are followed up on immediately, and very seriously, with law enforcement and at the school level,” Doerr said.
An online question asked if the district had a policy on metal detectors at schools, and Miller said studies have shown that for schools of a size similar to North Penn, metal detectors could add up to two hours to the time it takes students to enter, before considering the costs of staff to monitor and maintain them.
“The cost, exponentially, gets very large very fast. While it is a consideration, we also have to ask ourselves, ‘Do we have that problem here? Are we seeing an influx of weapons?’ That’s a consideration this community has to make: is that one of the layers that you want to use,” Miller said.
A student named Jacob said he thought bullying remained a key issue at the high school, and the recent student walkout on the one-month anniversary of a school shooting in Florida may have made other students who disagreed with political policies feel excluded.
“I think that the walkout we had was focused more on weaponry than it was about actual community. I think that, in trying to place all the blame on the federal government, we place no blame on ourselves,” he said.
A parent of a middle school student said they were concerned by not seeing a visible security presence when dropping off a child for after school activities, and Dietrich said security staff are constantly shifted to meet new needs.
“There is not security in all buildings at all times. That’s the truth. But we can’t tell you exactly where and when everybody is,” Dietrich said.
“We do have people working at different hours than when we originally had them scheduled, so we have more of a security presence in the evening. That change has been made,” he said.
All staff are required to wear visible IDs, Dietrich said, and at the secondary level all students are required to have them on their person. Staff and the board committees have discussed ways to make those IDs more useful to students carrying them.
Kassa said he hopes the safe schools forum will encourage residents to continue sharing their thoughts and concerns via the Safe Schools committee, and Dietrich said he hoped it served as a reminder to both parents and students that district staff are there to help.
“If we do have students that, despite our best efforts, do arrive at a dark place in their life, it’s important to us that we learn about that, and intervene before something happens,” Dietrich said.
“We don’t want students spreading rumors, but we do want them coming to us if there’s something they’ve seen, that they want us to know. It’s extremely important for us that you continue to reinforce that with your children: if they do hear something, it’s critically important that they speak with us,” he said.
North Penn’s Safe Schools committee next meets at 6 p.m. on May 14 and the full school board next meets at 7:30 p.m. on April 19, both at the district Educational Services Center, 401 E. Hancock St. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www. NPenn.org or follow @ NPSD on Twitter.