In response to recent violent incidents in schools nationwide, members of the DeKalb County School Board are taking steps to improve security in local schools.
During Thursday night’s regular meeting of the board, Director of Schools Mark Willoughby said parents will soon receive letters outlining the board’s plans to keep students safe.
“It is talking about the things we are doing in DeKalb County, working with our local police, sheriff's department, and Charlie Parker of the local emergency management,” Willoughby told the assembly.
“The state has called a safety summit meeting to be held at the end of January. Mr. Charlie Parker has also asked to have a meeting in the county during January. We will be discussing safety and emergency procedures,” the director said.
School security procedures already require that visitors enter through the front door, report to the office sign in, and acquire an identification badge.
After the visit is complete, the badge must be returned to the office.
The board intends to schedule meetings at every school in the county in the next few months to examine the security at the facilities.
Willoughby said the fact-finding tour was the idea of board chairman Johnny Lattimore.
“Mr. Lattimore has requested that as we go from school to school, to look at the safety aspects of each school and how to make each school a lot safer,” Willougbhy noted.
“David Brown of Kaatz Binkley will do a survey and give us recommendations of what we might want to do. We have also asked some of our police officers and the sheriff's department to give us some recommendations of what might be good to do in our buildings also,” he said.
Willoughby said that while no one can promise a completely safe school, the board plans to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that local children remain safe.
“We're being pro-active,” he said. “I would like to say we could make guarantees. We can't do that, but schools should be one of the safest places for students to be. We want our students to feel safe. We're going to do our best to take care of them and look out for them.”
While a resource officer has been employed at DeKalb County High School for several years, no other school in the system has such an officer on duty.
While the resource officer is paid by the sheriff's department, it is unclear whether the board would ask the county to fund the hiring of more school officers if it is determined that they are needed.
In the letter being sent to parents, Willoughby said, “As a result of the tragic event that occurred in Connecticut, I wanted to reassure you that we are taking extra security measures to ensure the safety of all the students and staff within the DeKalb County School District. At the beginning of each new school year, DeKalb County Schools has made it a practice to review and update safety plans and procedures involving all individual schools as well as every department (transportation, maintenance, etc) in our system.
“I have met with local law enforcement, principals, and supervisors recently to discuss and review our safety plans. I can tell you we have many security measures in place. Some of those measures are visible to you, other measures are not.
“Our security measures are flexible, and we adapt our security measures to meet any new needs that arise. We routinely seek the advice of our local city police department, sheriff's department, and our Emergency Management personnel as well as state authorities on how to better safeguard our schools and improve our security measures. Our local police departments continually provide us with immediate and excellent support to keep our schools safe.
“In order to keep all children safe, we are asking parents to enter at the main entrance of the building and to report to the office. At this time, you will sign in, obtain a visitor's badge and proceed to your destination. When you have completed your visit with us, please return your visitor's badge to the office.
“We routinely conduct safety and fire drills in our schools, and we will continue to do so in the future. We also attend safety training sessions to keep current on school safety issues and concerns, and to share ideas on how to better protect our schools.
“As your superintendent of schools, I assure you that we are continually evaluating our school safety and security measures to keep our schools safe. During January, I will be attending two meetings relating with the safety of our schools. The first will be a DeKalb County Emergency Management meeting.
“The purpose of this meeting is for local representatives to engage in emergency planning, training, and overall emergency preparedness. The second meeting will be the School Safety Summit sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Education in order to receive the most recent updates pertaining to school safety,” Willoughby wrote.