MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Monongalia County Board of Education (BOE) continues to make efforts to reassure parents of students about the general safety of schools.
In response to calls from concerned parents after the school shootings in Georgia and Maryland that occurred last week, Monongalia County Schools Director of Safe Schools Adam Henkins presented a review of system wide safety protocols in schools in front of the BOE during their regular meeting Tuesday. In the overview, Henkins reviewed preventive measures that are taken on a daily basis on school grounds, programs in place to report something that needs to be addressed, and ways that security can be expanded in the near future that’s being discussed by system administrators. Efforts that, according to Henkins, helped prevent a tragedy from taking place within their own school system in the past couple of weeks.
“We work with the State Department, and every school has what we call a crisis plan,” said Henkins. “Each school is required to put in place a multi-step crisis plan, and then (we determine) how do we get students back to where they belong (either at home or at school),” he said.
For the incident that was prevented in Monongalia County, Henkins mentioned that a combination of parental, school administration, and law enforcement efforts played key roles in avoiding a tragedy at a county school. Within the parameters of legal confidentiality, Henkins said that the initial report was made by a concerned parent who then, with the help of the state implemented app See Something? Say Something, made an anonymous report, which led to direct communications with the West Virginia State Police, school administrators, and local law enforcement to prevent the student of concern from entering a classroom. Henkins feels the new technology, which was implemented two years ago, added to the prompt response by the school community, each showed their respective importance in preventing a possible school shooting within their own backyard.
“If it’s late at night and they get a call, I get a call, principals get a phone call, many times we’ll make home visits at night,” said Henkins in regards to direct action that is taken if a concerning report is made. “To make sure something is not out-of-kilter, or if we need to take action at that point, which we can and do (when necessary),” he said.
In regards to direct student safety within Monongalia County schools, Henkins listed a combination of safety equipment and protocols that are in place system wide to prevent a questionable person or dangerous weapon from entering facilities. This includes metal detectors at all county high schools and select middle schools, a review of points of entry at a single school, and consistently scheduled drills in the event of an emergency. For parents who are concerned about the new cell phone rule where students must keep cell phones in a magnetic Yondr bag during the day, Henkins added that alert systems are in place to keep parents informed on any emergency happening at a county school if necessary as information is released.
“We can send messages out very quick through social media, through email, and through active phone,” said Henkins. “We can make all three of those communications very quickly if needed,” he said.
Henkins also added that discussions have also begun on the installation of a modern school emergency alert system that was used by teachers in Georgia to prevent a school shooting that killed four people from becoming severely worse. Called CENTEGIX, the system would include personal alert lanyards that would be given to each staff member at an individual school where they can then press a button that would set off a schoolwide alarm and give an immediate notice to law enforcement with GPS coordinates on where an incident is taking place within the school itself. While the cost estimates are still being determined, Henkins expects this new measure to be endorsed by system administrators and the BOE.
“It’s not just a panic button it also installs lighting on the walls, so if I push it (the button on the lanyard), I would go into a lockdown mode,” said Henkins on how the new technology would work if it’s installed in county schools. “That would allow other people in the hallways to see those lights and let them know that ‘hey, we’re in lockdown mode,'” he said.
For the Monongalia County School System, the review of the safety protocols was not only aimed to ease the concerns of the parents of students but to also show what is done on a daily basis to keep children safe. This not only includes the daily efforts by teachers, staff, and administrators but also future plans to further expand on safety measures using funds approved by county voters as part of the county school levy. With the reasonable expectation that parents will maintain the same level of concern for their children in the months that will follow the school shootings in Georgia and Maryland respectfully, the BOE and system administrators want parents and residents alike to know that safety is their top priority.
“What we were trying to do is to reassure our parents and our community that school safety is really at the forefront for us,” said Monongalia County School Superintendent Eddie Campbell. “Keeping kids safe and keeping our staff safe has to be at the forefront of what we do,” he said.