Within the past month, numerous school districts and high schools nationwide have received threats of violence that have forced school administrators to take action. The nation’s second-largest school system, Los Angeles Unified School District, closed all 900 schools due to a threat less than two weeks after two Islamic radicals opened fire at a workplace party in San Bernardino, California, killing 14. A New York school district received a similar threat.
Closer to home, Plainfield High School received a school threat via the Internet, which prompted the school to shut down. Earlier this week, police made an arrest in relation to social media threats (pictured at right) directed toward Perry Meridian High School.
With so much concern centered on the safety of students and staff, what are key education leaders doing to keep their students safe?
The Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper spoke with representatives of the Indiana Department of Education (DOE), Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township (MSDLT) and Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) to learn what precautions are being taken to keep students safe.
How two school districts compare
How do school threats, such as those that have happened in Plainfield and California, impact your school district?
Scott Martin, IPS deputy superintendent of operations: We’re certainly aware and track them daily both locally and nationally. We have been gathering learnings from each situation to plan for our own response, should it be needed.
Roger Smith, executive director of operations at MSDLT: We are constantly talking about the news, especially when it comes to school safety. We have camera systems in all schools, so we are constantly monitoring those and they are viewed district-wide each day. It’s constant communication with our buildings.
With an increase in threats, is the school district taking any new safety precautions?
Martin: We are monitoring the local and national situation in preparation for implementing new precautions and procedures. The district consistently reviews best practices and technology advances to ensure we are well prepared.
Smith: We’re closer to all Marion County officials to seek input when we do have a threat within our buildings. We access every threat that comes into our buildings, see what action needs be taken. We want additional authority to help us determine how legitimate those threats are. We rely heavily on Lawrence Police Department and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department as our district covers both of those territories. Homeland Security is also involved.
Will any additional drills or training be done for students and staff?
Martin: The State of Indiana has required drills for staff and students; additional district-wide drills are not being planned at this time. Some schools have taken advantage of securing additional training at their own site.
Smith: The drills will continue to happen monthly, and we’re not going to increase those, but we are going to continue to have monthly administrator meetings where we cover items like these every month. We’re making them aware that if they feel they need additional attention in the building, they have help. We have six resource officers at the high school, two at the middle school, one at central office and roaming officers on the east and west side accessible to everyone.
Is investment in high-tech security equipment something your district will look into?
Martin: We have made investments in camera and access systems for security. We review and assess our systems on a consistent basis and evaluate new technology as it becomes available.
Smith: Yes, I think all buildings are talking about that. We were able to obtain a dog that finds drugs, which is grant funded. We’re supposed to get another dog that is trained in ammunition and explosives. We have a memorandum of understanding with the police department that for the 180 days we are in school we use the dog, but if the police need the dog in the community, they have the right to do so.
How can parents and guardians help make their child’s visit to school safer?
Martin: Parents can have conversations with students to make them aware of pitfalls in social media and be aware of their surroundings. Most school safety situations have signs prior to the event, whether it’s a student becoming aware that another student at a school has made them personally aware they are considering an event or noticing a potential event on social media. The best solution is for them to feel safe to report to a trusted staff member that they know of a possible event.
Steven Garner, IPS police chief: Maintain control and awareness of social media sites your children visit and report abuses or threatening behaviors. Talk to your children about safe and unsafe behaviors.
Smith: Encourage their child to talk to an adult if they know anything about someone wanting to harm themselves or someone else. Prevention of is better than a reaction to an event.
How the DOE plays a role in safety
What exactly is the Safety Academy Program?
David Woodward, director of Safety Academy Program: Each school is required to have a school safety specialist, and we provide that certification to them after a five-day program is completed. We cover all of the basics of having a school safety plan, what should be in that plan, how to test it and the legalities of that plan. We also hit on bullying, hazing and those types of things. Once they’ve been certified, we have them come back two additional days every year. The threat is always changing and the lessons learned are always new.
You mentioned administrators who complete the program are certified. What type of training do the other faculty and staff members at the schools receive?
The bulk of our program is to train the trainer. Our intention is that the school safety leader goes back to the school and is the resource and trains others in their school corporation. The law is each school corporation has one, but what we’re really seeing is almost every school has one. Indiana has about 300 school corporations, but we have almost 2,500 school safety specialists.
How is this law enforced?
We track all of their participation and attendance. We go at random to school corporations where we look at their (safety) drills, plans and we talk to them about legal requirements and best practices. This (school) year we’ve already gone out to about 40 school corporations to see how they’re doing.
If a corporation does not have a specialist, what are the consequences? Do they lose funding or accreditation?
Accreditation loss is a possibility, but currently there are no Indiana schools that do not have a school safety specialist. We rarely run into that and when we do, they get someone enrolled right away.
How can parents get involved in keeping their child and other students safe?
School safety is a reflection of what happens in our community. Parents’ biggest role is what they can do at home and in their community to prepare their kids. They should also be active with the school and the administration. If they are concerned about access control in their corporation, we want them to let our school administration know. That communication is so important.
Several school corporations are leaning on technology for security. Do you see this happening more frequently in the future?
Yes, little by little. There has been a Homeland Security (secure schools safety) grant for the past few years that has given schools a chance to up their game when it comes to using technology. It’s been a huge benefit to schools.
