By ALICIA LEONARD
With future strategic planning for the district and the 2015-2016 budget process before the Walton County School Board (WCSB) during their summer meetings, questions surrounding the best ways to protect students, staff, faculty, and taxpayers’ wallets regarding school security have been recent points of discussion for the board.
Controlled access entry points, improved and completed fencing in needed areas, and full-time on-campus security though the partnership the district has with the Walton County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO), which helps provide schools in the district with School Resource Deputies (SRDs), are some ways the district is trying to increase security and safety for faculty and students.
According to national studies, the district’s efforts are right in line with schools across the country. Many districts are hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. Students who come to school with destruction in mind, and according to many statistics, armed with weapons taken from family or friends, are declining in number. Still, the possibility of compromised safety of students is a concern for parents, educators, and law enforcement every school year.
The battle between schools being a safe haven of education or being made to mimic security measures employed by correctional facilities draws a fine line and is often part of the discussion when it comes to student safety.
According to the WCSO web site on School Resource Deputies, in 2013 Walton SRDs received 4,111 calls for service. They wrote 548 reports and made 102 arrests while covering 18 schools in the district. But their most important job -according to a rapidly expanding field of school security experts as well as being expressed on their own web site – is establishing trust and a rapport with students, as well as providing them with a positive role model and mentoring.
Communication between students, faculty and SRDs if available, can be one of the best preventives to stopping school violence and attacks before they can happen, according to many school security specialists. One or more students often know of a threat before it happens, and if they have adults they feel comfortable confiding in, they are more likely to share that information rather than gloss over it and keep it to themselves.
A study on indicators of school crime and safety published for the 2013 -2014 school year by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (nces.ed.gov) outlines safety and security measures taken by 1,600 public schools across the country with 86 percent of those school principals polled responding.
Results show public schools, 93 percent of them according to the study, work to control campus and building access, and require a visitor check-in, 75 percent use security cameras, 68 percent require faculty and staff to wear badges or picture identification, and 58 percent require a strict dress code. Forty-three percent have some type of security personnel like SRDs or similar frequenting campuses, with only 24 percent having each campus covered full-time. This figure highlights the rarity of partnerships like the agreement the WCSO and the WCSB district shares versus other districts across the country.
Systems or apps that allow anonymous reporting of crimes or concerns by students comes in at 47 percent usage of schools polled, an increase of 11 percent from four years prior.
Other methods used in smaller percentages from other districts include random and daily searches by drug and contraband sniffing dogs, and requirements for students to wear some type of badge or photo identification while on school grounds during class hours.
The location of the school also reflects what security measures are in place according to the study. Rural schools responded that they were less likely to control access to their campus than inner city schools, but rural schools were more likely to employee random and daily drug dog sweeps than their inner city counterparts.
The poverty levels where the schools are located also tie in with the security often employed. High poverty level area public schools, if located in urban or inner-city sites report stricter access to their campus, more use of student uniforms, student badges, and clear book-bags if they are allowed at all.
Training for staff and educators varied with 89 percent receiving training in bullying, to 48 percent receiving training in early warning signs of students likely to be violent. Many behavioral experts believe with lowered incidents of bullying, there may be less acts of retribution by victims, preempting possible future issues with in-school violence.
Respondents showed 88 percent of schools have a written plan of procedures in cases of an active shooter, and 70 percent responded that students were drilled on the use of the written plan of procedure in cases of active shooters, shootings and natural disasters.
What about private schools? An expansive correlation of data collected from 2003 – 2012 compare the two types of schools in a U.S. Department of Education digest, labeled “table number 233.50.” The digest can be found at www.nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_233.50.asp
Private schools responded they place more emphasis on student dress, such as requirements for students to wear uniforms, and the strict enforcement of that dress code. This was one of the few percentages where private schools scored a higher usage in their security measures. Security cameras came in second at 40.6 percent versus public schools using video in 64.3 of the schools polled. Private schools employed security devices such a metal detectors, dogs and random sweeps less than six percent of the time while public institutions used them over 40 percent of the time during the same year.
As school shootings have gained media traction and air time in the last 20 years, companies and businesses offering survival training for school district staff and faculty have grown with them. Just Googling “school security” can lead to thousands if not more sites offering everything from inspection services to panic buttons, personalized apps for students to report issues, and constant video monitoring just to name a few.
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) at nij.gov (under school crime and safety) has a large collection of articles, studies, resources, and helpful information on schools and communities across the country that are trying different approaches for the prevention of, and or if necessary, their response to an act of violence.
All groups seem to embrace a few common security elements. They understand that although each campus and situation is different, their first line of defense is in their ability to reach troubled students before an act of violence is committed, as well as securing their campuses from intruders. They have written plans and use these plans in practice drills with their student body and they have made an effort to arm teachers and staff with the tools needed to communicate quickly in case of emergency such as phones in every classroom, or walkie-talkie type devices that can be used in emergencies.
One point spoken about in a recent school board workshop concerned the fact that although visitors could be possibly contained in a secure entrance point, there is no screening of students as they arrive to the school. So, although the secure entry point could prevent strangers from harming students, there is no screening of students, who quite often are the main perpetrators of violence against other students in past school shooting incidents.
No board member mentioned or implied that they wanted students screened, but experts have cautioned districts to not totally ignore the idea, citing it is harder for someone to board an airplane or enter a courthouse in America today, than walk into a school.
As security trends evolve alongside educational safety concerns, no one-size-fits-all package can apply. The WCSB just last year approved a security task force made up of staff, citizens and law enforcement to discuss the individual needs of every school in the district. Some of those meetings are open to the public.
To see more about the WCSB and the Walton School District, as well as some good news about student accomplishments and upcoming meetings, go to HYPERLINK “http://www.walton.k12.fl.us.” www.walton.k12.fl.us.
