Following Through on Policies and Procedures
Fiel also included a review of the district’s policies and procedures for handling events ranging from a routine crime to an active shooter on campus. Fiel praised the district for its written polices but said even the best-written plans offer little if administrators, faculty and staff fail to follow them.
“We found unlocked doors and one outside entry that had been propped open for the convenience of a teacher,” he says. “That can’t happen or even the best plans and equipment can be defeated.”
The district is almost constantly reviewing its policies and procedures to handle emergencies, according to Ben Thigpen, Ed.D., Duplin County Schools’ executive director of student services. The district, through various committees and subcommittees, sets standards that the principals at each school are charged with enforcing.
Each month principals are expected to conduct one of five campus-wide drills that focus on lockdowns or other emergency situations. Principals are also expected to deal with safety and/or security violations caused by faculty or staff.
Thigpen praised the recently completed risk assessments and said they have been shared with the principals and their school leadership teams. Improvements requiring capital expenditures still rest with the district, but each school is expected to act on other identified items.
“Sandy Hook made us realize we have to take more of a look at what we need to do on each campus,” he says. “You’re never where you fully need to be, so that’s why we just have to keep working and improving our responses to emergencies.”
Security Plans and Implementations Impress District
Chuck Farrior, chairman of the Duplin County Schools Board of Education, attended Wallace Elementary as a child, as did his children. His wife is a first grade teacher at the school. He’s impressed with what has been done to improve the campus’ security.
“Our 16 schools were built between the 1950s and 1990s in different styles and sizes to fit the needs and the times,” he says. “But the security plan we have at Wallace Elementary is repeatable – no matter the age, size or type of campus construction.”
Farrior expects the board to implement many of the suggestions in the risk assessments immediately; the rest will be phased in as budgets permit. That being said, he thinks the board will have to give security a higher priority than in the past.
“When I was a student here, doors were commonly left open throughout the day,” he says. “But we’re not immune to today’s outside events. We’ve made the decision that we don’t want to put our kids in harm’s way. When parents send their children to our schools, they should do so knowing they will be safe.”
District Superintendent Austin Obasohan, Ed.D., says the administration and board share the same view of school security.
“No learning can take place without the assurance of a safe environment,” he claims. “You can never control 100% of all events, but you have to be as prepared as possible.”
Dwight Holland, assistant principal at Wallace Elementary, says the work at his school has been well received by parents, teachers and staff.
Tackling the Future of School Security
The security experts, educators, first responders and community members interviewed agreed that all new schools, additions and renovations should be designed with a basic level of security in mind. That would include fundamentals such as a more compact footprint, fewer entry points, adequate lighting, locks and landscape design.
Fiel believes that while an access control system using card keys is considered the ideal choice for schools, the systems are still considered too expensive for many, if not most, districts. As a result, traditional key locks will continue to be used for the foreseeable future.
School board chairman Farrior suggests that architectural and design firms be required to have a security expert on staff or retainer when designing public buildings such as schools.
Fiel would go a step further. He suggests national security standards be overseen and enforced by either the federal Department of Justice or Department of Education. The standards would set minimal levels of security with any school or district able to exceed them.
“We need a national conference with teachers, administrators, law enforcement, architects and security industry representatives providing input,” he claims. “Standards would give districts some guidelines and take much of the guesswork out of securing a campus. It would all be based on best practices.”
Jon Daum is a freelance writer and a principal in the San Diego-based public relations firm Daum Weigle. He has worked within the security industry since 1990.
