Leaders reaffirm commitment to school safety

The safety and physical well-being of students and staff continues to be a high priority for the Canton Public Schools but the individual schools and the district as a whole can always do better and improvements can and will be made.

That has been the unified message coming from Canton school leadership and public safety officials in the wake of the recent fatal mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead and 16 wounded and has sparked a renewed focus on matters of school safety and security.

Security of all school buildings is one piece in a broader safety plan for the Canton Public Schools.

In Canton’s case, the sense from administrators is that the schools already do a good job in this arena, although they prefer to be proactive as opposed to reactive to any one particular incident. They also are proud of the collaborative relationship that they have fostered with Canton safety officials and believe they are ahead of the curve in many areas thanks to the district’s robust school resource officer program.

At the same time, school officials recognize the profound impact that the Parkland shooting has had not only on the nation, but on the local school community and have taken steps to reaffirm their commitment to safety while also emphasizing the importance of student-staff relationships and supporting student voices.

In her most recent report to the School Committee, Superintendent Jennifer Fischer-Mueller touched on all of these areas in a lengthy update that addressed the Parkland massacre head on.

“The violence perpetrated on students and educators at Marjory Stoneman Douglas has affected every one of us,” Fischer-Mueller wrote. “It was a violation of the sanctity of the public school environment, an environment in which families place their trust with the expectation that educators will not only nurture and teach their children, but also keep them safe from harm of any kind.”

In her report, the superintendent stressed the importance of attending to the “emotional safety” of students and staff and pledged to take concrete steps to achieve this objective, including providing opportunities for educators to gather in conversation about how the Parkland shooting has affected them and to share suggestions on how to improve school building security.

On that last point, Fischer-Mueller said she was very pleased to hear from a teacher recently who had suggestions on how to better secure a particular door in one of the schools. “It was a great example of the collaboration that needs to occur with staff, and it’s important that we continue to talk to our teachers as well as our custodians and all staff. That’s multiple eyes and ears that are out there that can help us identify places where we can do a better job.”

On the subject of supporting student voice, Fischer-Mueller noted that Canton has had a long-term commitment to “educating students in a way that encourages them to become engaged citizens.” To that end, she said the CPS leadership cabinet devoted most of its recent meeting to a discussion around the National Student Walkout planned for March 14 to honor the victims of the Parkland shooting and protest gun violence, and the outcome of that meeting was an affirmation of a set of shared beliefs and a renewed commitment to supporting the rights of Canton students to “make their voices heard.”

While many school districts across the country have vowed not to support the walkout and have even threatened suspensions for those who participate, both Fischer-Mueller and CHS Principal Derek Folan have voiced their support for this planned action, which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and last for 17 minutes in honor of the 17 victims who were killed in Florida.

Folan has met on multiple occasions with student leaders and has expressed confidence that whatever action is taken will be done in a respectful and responsible manner. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to support our students in a civic action that embraces their student voice and the right to expression about school safety,” he said. “Our students also want to stand in solidarity with the Parkland students and honor those who lost their lives. I have great faith in our students as they develop a meaningful way to accomplish these goals.”

In addition to having conversations with students, Folan also recently led a building walk-through with public safety and town personnel that evaluated points of entry and exit and looked at ways to upgrade building security. Fischer-Mueller said the walk-through was considered an “important success,” and she intends to replicate the effort at each of the Canton schools.

In terms of emergency preparedness training, the Canton Public Schools currently schedule three drills per year at each school. Canton, like many other districts across the country in recent years, has shifted away from the lockdown-only model in favor of an “enhanced” protocol that encourages a variety of response options in the event of a crisis or when faced with the threat of violence.

Fischer-Mueller said the scheduled drills include a shelter-in-place exercise as well as “versions of an enhanced lockdown,” such as barricading doors with furniture and evacuating to a predetermined area.

As recently as a few years ago, Canton appeared to be ramping up its training with the launch of an “active shooter” exercise for faculty and staff that took place prior to the start of school. However, the drill was not repeated and Fischer-Mueller, who was not in Canton at the time, was noncommittal as to whether the schools would consider a similar exercise in the future. “We haven’t had one of those specific types of drills recently,” she said, “and I think there’s a fine line between doing the drills such that we are well practiced yet not doing them in a way that the drills themselves can be anxiety producing.”

For School Committee Chairman Mike Loughran, the emergency preparedness drills are a critical piece of the school district’s overall safety plan, and he wants to not only make sure that the schools are conducting the drills, but that they are always looking at ways to “drill better” and remain open to new techniques.

Last Friday, Loughran met with Canton Police Chief Ken Berkowitz and Lt. Chuck Rae, who heads up the school resource officer program, and the three discussed the types of drills that are conducted as well as ways to improve school security systems. Overall, Loughran said he came out of the meeting feeling optimistic about the school department’s commitment to safety but with the belief that they can “do better.” Most importantly, he said, he wants to see an ongoing commitment to school safety in Canton.

“What I’m hopeful for,” he said, “is that this is not the typical response where we have another tragic school shooting and everyone stands on their soapbox and then the issue dies down. I’d like to see the schools stay committed to this and for us to continue to work with police and fire to ensure that our schools are as safe as they can be.”

Loughran said he was particularly encouraged by the work of the SROs, who he learned are “very much in touch with the students,” particularly those who are “on their radar as needing some kind of help.”

Chief Berkowitz echoed this point and made it clear that the SROs in Canton are much more than just “armed guards.”

“We have officers that know their students, that teach their students, that are taking a look at early warning signs,” he said. “And our school resource officers don’t get tunnel vision. We have officers giving lectures in the driver education program, we do drug sweeps and drug education. We do a lot of intervention with bullying, and we also do a lot of mentoring. I can’t really thank them enough and really thank the schools for letting us in.”

Berkowitz noted that Canton’s SRO program is one of the most extensive in the region with full-time officers at GMS, CHS, and Blue Hills Regional as well as adopt-a-school officers that work with the three elementary schools.

“It’s not kneejerk,” he said. “We didn’t just put this into effect this week. We have a robust SRO program and we’ve been way ahead of the curve on this.”

The chief said he also recently provided the SROs with additional safety resources — more “tools in the toolbox,” as he put it — and would love to do more drills with students and staff, although he understands the time and curriculum demands that educators face.

But the biggest key to a safe school, he said, is to get to know the students and staff well and to remain proactive about safety and security concerns.

“I just hate to react to anything,” he said, “and I think there’s a danger in having that mindset and if you start changing with every horrific incident that occurs. But you always have to analyze what you’re doing and be flexible with what you do and recognize that you can always improve and get better.”

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=38394

Posted by Jay Turner on Mar 9 2018. Filed under News, Police & Fire. Both comments and pings are currently closed.