District Administration - November 2012 - (Page 55)

after-school and weekend activities. While many school officials want their community involved so parents and other members of the community feel ownership in the school, they also have a professional, ethical, and, a legal responsibility to take some reasonable risk reduction measures. Even though a lot of attention is given to college campuses in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, many experts say it’s at the secondary and elementary schools that more people should be concerned. “Most parents and teachers across the country say they feel safe, but you look at the number of incidents that have occurred on K12 campuses across the county compared to the number of incidents on post-secondary campuses, they might show you something differently,” Kissel says. Unfortunately, there isn’t any mandatory crime reporting tracking at the K-12 level. But according to the National School Safety and Security Service, there have been 130 shooting deaths, 49 suicides, 34 murder-suicides and 41 stabbings in K-12 secondary schools between 1999 and July 2010, compared to 19 college campus shootings between 1966 and July 2008, according to the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. “I take the approach that schools are a microcosm of society,” Kissel says. “What is outside 24/7 is in my hallways nine months of the year.” years. The district has 41,000 students in its 24 elementary, nine middle, nine high and 10 alternative education schools. And many of the schools were built like college campuses with open architecture. “I take the approach that schools are a microcosm of society. What is outside 24/7 is in my hallways nine months of the year.” —Mark Kissel, chief of police, Cherokee County (Ga.) School District Retrofitting such buildings without any major rebuilds meant improving fencing, gates and access controls. They also revamped how they defined parking spaces, making visitors’ parking near the school entrance so visitors can be monitored more thoroughly. Many older schools were built without a single entry point, making it harder to ensure safety with multiple doors that can be accessed throughout the day and sometimes into the evening. “Many schools in this country were not designed for security,” Trump says. “In many schools, you have to walk into the main entrance, and the main office is halfway down the hallway or on a different floor.” After the 1999 Columbine High School attack, many schools simply reduced the number of open doors, where students and staff can get out in case of a fire, but can’t get in, Trump says. Many have also retrofitted older buildings with a buzzer, intercom and camera system, where the main office can decide if they want to open the door. Many newer schools have been built with two entry points, where visitors can enter the first door, but can’t enter a second locked door until they have cleared their visiting privileges with a front office. One example of how schools are redefining those access points is Sarasota’s Booker High School, which is undergoing a $58 million rebuild that will be completed in 2013. Twenty-six buildings from the original campus are being demolished and consolidated into five new buildings and five completely renovated buildings containing 80 classrooms. Originally, Orange Avenue bisected Retrofitting Old Buildings For many school districts, like Sarasota County (Fla.) Public Schools, it took a year or two to rethink how they were going to deal with access control and school safety in the post-Columbine era. To make it easier, Darrell Reyka, the interim director of safety and security for Sarasota County, says the district has funded access control for the past eight At Annapolis High School of the Anne Arundel County (Md.) Public Schools, officials discuss security measures. From left to right: Bob Yatsuk, supervisor of school security; Ron Gamble, school resource officer; and Principal Don Lilley. www.DistrictAdministration.com November 2012 55 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - November 2012

District Administration - November 2012
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Flipping the Script in K12
Sustainable Professional Development
Brave New World of Teacher Evaluation
Philadelphia’s “Servant- Leader” Superintendent
Enhancing School Access Control
New Products
Professional Opinion
New Directions

District Administration - November 2012