School districts proactive with security
Impact of Parkland shooting sparks multiple measures.
Megan May and Molly Bregar have no fear returning to Akron’s Firestone High School this year — they’re just ready to continue the work they’ve started.
Megan and Molly are among the thousands of students and community members around the country who have mobilized to demand safer schools in the six months since the mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
And school districts have responded.
Whether it’s amped-up security and mental health supports, extra cameras, classroom barricades, giant walls or armed teachers, districts around the country and across the region have spent thousands on upgrades for this school year.
“We called (safety issues) out at the walkout, and now I think it’s time to bring the community together and create change,” said 16-year-old Megan, who worked with Molly to help lead the Student Coalition Against Violence and Firestone’s participation in the national school walkout in March.
Parkland aftermath
Amy Klinger, co-founder of the Genoa-based Educator’s School Safety Network, said strong student involvement is a large reason why the tragedy had such a rippling effect throughout the country.
But the unusually high spike in violence afterward — especially in Ohio — is another factor. The Educator’s School Safety Network, an advocacy organization that has tracked news reports of threats and violence since 2014, found that Ohio had the largest number of media-reported threats and violent school incidents in the months that followed.
The violence has been apparent at a local level, with numerous threats and a string of youth suicides, including one inside Jackson Middle School just days after the Parkland shooting. The 13-year-old who died inside the school initially had plans to shoot others, but he turned the rifle on himself instead, authorities determined.
While the organization found that incidents of violence were slowly on the rise before February, Parkland was the earthquake that sent many districts into action to avoid the aftershock.
“The need to implement ideas is more vital now than ever,” said Lisa Blough, superintendent of Coventry Local Schools. “We’ve always put [security improvements] off because of funding and not having the money to support it ... But then with all the tragedies happening not just in Parkland, but our local situations throughout Northeast Ohio, it really solidified the need to put these things in place now and not wait.”
Investing in personnel
Klinger recommends that if schools pursue one thing, it should be staff training for all school safety issues — not just active-shooter situations.
“If every gun on the planet disappears, we still have school safety issues. We have to broaden our view of school safety,” Klinger said. “If you only have X amount to spend, it should be on people.”
Many districts have expanded their staff training options beyond ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) this school year to include training on emergency medical response, how to identify students with mental health needs and how to build relationships with students.
Some districts, however, have determined safety training isn’t enough.
In the northern part of Tuscarawas County, Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools voted in June to arm a select number of staff members. The names of the staff members who will have guns in the schools won’t be disclosed to the public, but they will have to undergo their own special trainings, including FASTER (Faculty/Administrator Safety Training & Emergency Response) and Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy training.
“We are committed to continuously updating our safety standards given the reality and challenges we face today,” Superintendent Mark Murphy said in an email to GateHouse Media. “The board of education unanimously approved a resolution to arm employees at its meeting. None of us are excited about the endeavor, yet it is a significant safety measure the board authorized.”
Along with training existing personnel, many districts have made at least one new hire, whether it is an extra security guard, school resource officer or mental health specialist. Several have hired a combination of additional staff members.
Building upgrades
Other districts have directed their resources into upgrading building equipment — from changing locks and adding security cameras to increasing the use of metal detectors and improving security software. University Hospitals is working with every school in Portage County to donate “Go Buckets.” The 5-gallon buckets, filled with $100 worth of supplies, serve as an emergency place for students to “go” relieve themselves if they’re stuck in the classroom.
A major addition in many buildings is some sort of barrier preventing easy access to schools. Some districts added security vestibules at school entrances, while others invested in shatterproof barricades that shield the classroom door.
Wooster High School is building a wall.
The school is currently connected to the Gault Recreation Center and Ellen Shapiro Natatorium. The district is working on a barrier to put between the academic and public portions of the building. It will be constructed with three sets of double-aluminum storefront glass doors that can be locked or unlocked electronically and opened by staff members via their ID badges.
“The burden (of school safety) has never been so great as it is now,” Wooster City Schools Superintendent Michael Tefs said.
Money needed
While many districts have made improvements, some are still waiting for funding to make even more changes.
Nordonia Hills schools in Summit County, along with Dalton and Northwestern school districts in Wayne County, have levies on the November ballot for additional safety and security improvements.
In Stark County, 16 school districts recently participated in a joint safety and security levy spearheaded by the county’s Education Service Center for the special August election.
The levy failed, but Joe Chaddock, the superintendent of the Stark County ESC, said districts across the county still are making necessary safety adjustments.
“Safety and security is the No. 1 priority for all of our schools,” Chaddock said. “Ultimately, it would’ve been steady source of revenue for [safety and security] ... But we’re just going to keep working toward it.”
Meanwhile, Green schools in Summit County opted out of the Stark joint levy and instead pursued its own safety and security funding, which was approved by voters Aug. 7. That funding will go toward security upgrades to be in place by the time school starts this week.
Some districts have come up with other creative ways to fund new initiatives in time for this school year. Jackson Township trustees, for example, recently approved a one-year agreement with the school district to split the cost of hiring six school resource officers to be in place at each school throughout the district.