School safety:
Parents urged to get more involved, help ensure campus security at San Luis High School
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — Students, teachers and staff at San Luis High School wear identification badges on campus. Students arrive and leave the campus at the same time each day.
Visitors are monitored on campus, including parents.
Those are among the security measures in place at the high school amid heightened concerns nationwide about students safety in the wake of shooting incidents at U.S. schools.
Parents also need to take a greater role in promoting campus security. That was the message given to a small turnout of people at a recent meeting of San Luis High School’s Parent Teacher Organization.
Tammy Ray, the school’s principal, conceded to the gathering that the new safety measures that are in place may seem bothersome or inconvenient for the parents and public.
“We all know that as a society, things have changed. We hear all the time about school safety and about the threats to that safety. That pushes us to do the most that we can (to ensure safety) because we have under our care the most important resource (we have), our children.”
She said that the school’s transition to a single bell schedule, in which students arrive and leave the school at the same time, could mean heavier traffic on the streets around the campus. But, Ray continued, the school is working with the San Luis Police Department on traffic control measures to relieve congestion.
The requirement that everyone on campus wear ID badges adds another level of security to the existing requirement that students wear uniforms.
The PTO meeting brought out representatives from the police department, among them police Lt. Miguel Alvarez, who urged
parents to closely watch their children’s activities in and outside the home.
“We need to work together as a community,” he said. “As parents we need to be honest about the conduct of our children, and be alert to the dangers that exist inside home and outside, on the streets and in the neighborhoods.
“Note any changes in behavior. Stay reasonably strict with your children, and look for local services that are available to help you.”
Police Detective Ernesto Prieto urged parents to monitor their kids’ use of social media, which he described as a “double-edged sword” for young people. His comments came just a couple of weeks after the arrest of a student who had warned on Facebook that a shooting would occur on the San Luis campus.
“Facebook allows (us) to communicate with our loved ones in other cities or outside the country, but unfortunately many youths use it to announce things or make comments they shouldn’t be making.”
And he urged parents to report any suspicious activity involving young people, even anonymously.
“You can call and remain anonymous, reporting anything suspicious you see. You know that we are here to help, so don’t wait for your children to commit a crime.”
He said parents have a role to play in helping ensure school safety. But not many parents heard that message.
Turnout for the PTO meeting, held at the high school, was fewer than 30 people, fewer than the organization’s officers had hoped for.
“We have been having these meetings for three years, and the most we have been able to bring together is like 90 people,” said Ruben Escobar, the PTO president. “We have tried various ways to notify (parents about upcoming meetings) but they don’t come. And then they say they aren’t given information.
“Last year, a week before one of the school lockdowns, we had a meeting and we talked specifically about the lockdown procedures,” he added. “And then a week later there was a incident where a kid talked about a bomb being in the school, and it was chaos outside. The parents wanted to come in (onto campus), even though that’s not the protocol we have to follow.”
Ray said that in the event of any incidents that pose threats to campus security, the school will notify parents through Blackboard Connect, or through news releases issued by the school district or through the school’s Facebook page. But she said the information will be limited to that which can be released without jeopardizing police investigations.
Alvarez said the police department is looking into the possibility of assigning two of its officers to the campus as school resource officers, one on a full-time basis and the other on a part-time schedule.