The newspaper continues to keep our readers updated about changes related to school security since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn. Our regional K-12 education reporter contacted school officials in more than 20 districts seeking information about what they’ve done.
Some of the new security changes in area school districts
Centerville and Northmont – upgrading their school entrances
Lebanon and Greeneview – new police presence in the schools
Fairborn – districtwide staff security training on April 8
Northridge – assessing behavior of visitors before letting them enter
Area school districts have been busy making a number of security updates at their schools since the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary three months ago.
Some districts have beefed up police presence in their buildings, while others are updating entrances to make them more secure by adding buzz-in access systems, video cameras or security card readers for staff members to scan.
One district has changed the way it greets visitors and now looks for verbal and visual behavior cues before letting someone into the building — including parents. Another local district received a state-approved “waiver” day to offer day-long security training to staff on April 8.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office reports that all schools throughout the Miami Valley now have safety plans on file. Only three schools in the state — all private schools that are outside of this area — are not compliant, according to a list provided by that office. The attorney general reminded schools of the importance of having them on file in the wake of the deadly shooting of three high school students in Chardon, Ohio, last year, and again after the Newtown, Conn., massacre.
The Dayton Daily News contacted more than 20 school districts in Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Warren, Preble, Butler and Clark counties about security-related changes made since Dec. 14 when 20 children and six staff members were fatally shot at the school in Newtown.
The updates mirror what has been occurring across the state and country. Locally, the enhanced security in some cases comes with increased school and police cooperation and little or no additional expense to the districts or taxpayers. Other updates can cost tens of thousands of dollars but officials believe they’re worth the investment.
Lebanon City Schools Superintendent Mark North said that while the district already had in place a safety plan and lock-down drills for all grade levels, the Sandy Hook tragedy refocused his attention on the early grades.
“I think most had the mindset this is something that happens at the secondary level,” he said.
North and Lebanon Police Chief Jeffrey Mitchell put in place beginning in January a plan to have Lebanon police officers regularly coming in and out of three schools without costing the police department or school system a dime beyond the expense of a few, small signs.
The police department created permanent “annex” offices inside the high school, junior high and Bowman Primary School.
“Instead of working out of their cruisers, the officers are working out of the schools,” North said. “There is no cost to them and no cost to us.”
Anytime they have reports to complete or phone calls to make, they can pop into one of those schools. Mitchell said the offices have taken away any discomfort an officer might have felt to just show up at the school for no specific reason.
“This office gives us the reason why,” he said. “There’s almost an incentive for the officer to go there.”
Three other Lebanon schools are not part of the plan because of their close proximity to the police and sheriff’s departments, North said.
In Greene County, Jamestown police officers are now stationed at schools in the Greeneview Local School District. That started last week and is expected to cost about $75,000 per year, the superintendent has said.
Springboro school officials are still studying the idea of whether to allow staff members with concealed carry permits to bring weapons onto school grounds. The school board referred the issue in January to a policy committee to evaluate. While it’s unclear if anything will come of that in the Warren County district, it is clear there won’t be any armed staff members in the Springfield City Schools in Clark County.
Superintendent David Estrop said he and Police Chief Steve Moody presented to the Board of Education and “made no recommendation to arm anyone other than Springfield police officers serving in some capacity in our schools.” Those police officers — who are all in uniform, armed and have been in the schools for several years — include School Resource Officers (SROs) at the middle schools, high school and the alternative school, DARE officers at the elementary level and patrol officers who visit schools during the day.
Most of the area school leaders queried about security said they routinely review their procedures to see if further updates are needed. Several of them said they don’t publicly share some of those security details, however, out of safety concerns.
Fairborn City Schools recently signed up for the Ohio Department of Education offer to use a waiver day for security training.
“The district applied for the waiver because we believe it is very important that all of our staff have the best training possible in the event of an emergency,” district spokeswoman Pam Gayheart said, adding it will include new training and a review of all of the district’s safety plans. “With the assistance of the Fairborn Police Department, we will be working at different locations during the day and all staff will be attending. The focus will be on student and staff safety.”
Northridge Local Schools Superintendent Dave Jackson said all of their school doors are locked and they use a buzz-in entry system. Still, they now greet visitors differently, seeking verbal and visual responses in order to get a feel for a guest’s purpose and attitude prior to entering. “All parents were notified of the new process via our one-call system,” Jackson said. “Any guest who appears upset or verbally aggressive will not be granted access to the building.”
The new policy followed a Dec. 19 incident in which deputies were called to the Timberlane Learning Center after a mother, who was wanted to sign her child out for the day, began yelling at the secretary that if she didn’t hurry up, she would retrieve the youngster from the classroom herself. The woman continued to yell even after the principal told her to stop or she would call the sheriff’s office. Deputies met the woman in the parking lot and escorted her in to get the child, Jackson said. The woman was no longer permitted on the school grounds and has since left the district.
The Northmont and Centerville school districts, meanwhile, are focused on upgrading their entrances to make them more secure. Both districts hope to have them completed by August. Northmont Facilities Manager Bob McClintock said that over the summer, they will add buzz-in access systems, card readers and cameras to all the schools, except for the high school because a new one is being built.
Northmont spokeswoman Jenny Wood said they moved up their plan to update building security after Sandy Hook by reprioritizing district programs and resources. Before it was fast tracked, the plan had called for phasing in the updates over the next two years “to spread costs into a manageable timeline given the loss of $2.4 million in state and federal funding just in the past two years,” she said.
Centerville City Schools Superintendent Tom Henderson said his district also has started upgrading school entrances. The work is being done in-house by a district electrician, who started with the doors at the high school. Plans call for adding a new buzz-in access system at the school’s main entrance during spring break next week.
“Ultimately, all of the buildings will be locked and visitors will have to be buzzed in,” Henderson said.
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