Schools aim to improve security

“Our schools are not secure, but they will be.”
That was Shelly Vaughn’s message to her school board in October when the group was discussing applications for a School Security Grant from the Ohio Schools Facility Commission.
The turn-around on the grant was quick, with Fort Recovery Schools already learning they have been approved for three such grants — $5,000 each for the elementary, middle and high schools. The plan is to use that money for a variety of safety measures, including a buzz-in system that will lead to all doors to the schools being locked during the school day.
“We’re not starting school next year until we are secure,” said Vaughn, superintendent of Fort Recovery Schools, who also emphasized that Fort Recovery has done a lot in the way of training in an effort to try to avoid the school tragedies that have made news across the nation.
Currently, none of the three Fort Recovery schools are locked down during the day.
The elementary and middle schools, housed in the same building on Sharpsburg Road, are the most secure, Vaughn said. When visitors enter, they are funneled through the school secretary’s office.
However, if the secretary is not at the desk or is otherwise occupied, the school’s main hallway is just a few steps away.
At the high school, multiple doors are open during the school day. And none of the entrances force visitors to be met by a school official.
The projects funded by the security grants will address those issues.
Not only will all three schools funnel visitors through a secretary’s office, but also the door into that office will be locked. Those who want to enter the office will have to be buzzed in by the secretary. And if the visitor is unknown to the secretary or does not have an appointment to be at the school, an intercom system will be used for the visitor to identify him/her self.
“From a security standpoint, I think it is a real positive because if it slows them down a few more seconds,” to allow time to call law enforcement in an active threat situation, said Maggie Hartings, who serves as the FRMS secretary and previously spent 11 years as Fort Recovery’s police chief. “If it’s two seconds more and it saves five more kids, it’s worth it.”
In addition to the new buzz-in system, there are plans to “re-key” Fort Recovery Schools.
Over the years, Vaughn said, it becomes difficult to keep track of who has keys, and who has and has not turned them in after their employment with the school system has ended. The new system will be electronic and will give administrators the ability to deactivate a key card even if it is not returned.
Any money left over will be used to add more security cameras. There are currently 16 apiece at the two school buildings.
“There’s a lot of flexibility for schools to meet their individual needs,” said Vaughn. “The grant requirements weren’t so rigid that they prescribed exactly what needed to be done, because everybody is at different stages with security.”
All of the school districts in Mercer County are also planning to apply for a Multi-Agency Radio Communication System (MARCS) grant, Vaughn said. MARCS would link all local law enforcement and emergency responders in a single system, allowing for quicker communication with anyone who might be available to assist.
Vaughn pointed out that such a system is especially important in rural areas, where police personnel are fewer and farther between.
“That was one of my worst fears as a police chief,” said Hartings, who continues her work in law enforcement as a reserve officer for the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office. “How am I going to get enough people there to help to protect those kids the way they need to?”
In addition to the safety measures, Vaughn noted that administrators have put a focus on prevention.
She pointed out that in most school shootings there were at least some signs that something was wrong. The goal in Fort Recovery is to try to make sure those signs aren’t being ignored and left unreported.
“Probably the bigger issue isn’t so much how secure we’re making our buildings, but what are we doing with the climate within our buildings,” Vaughn said. “And that’s the piece that I think a lot of people don’t address …”
Fort Recovery Schools began an anti-bullying program in 2007 in an attempt to teach students what to look for and how to alert adults in the building.
School officials have point out that usually bullying involves just a few students — the aggressors and the victims — but generally there are many others who see, witness or hear about what is going on. It’s those bystanders, Vaughn said, who can really make a difference.
Teachers and other personnel have also gone through training about what to do if a school emergency occurs.
They practice that training during the two required active threat drills during the course of the year, taking a more proactive approach than they once would have
The previous plans basically called for teachers to lock classroom doors and hide out until such a situation was over. Now teachers and students take part in first trying to escape, whether via doors or windows. And then, if evacuation is not an option, they work to barricade doors in order to make it as difficult as possible for an intruder to get to them. Finally, if an intruder is able to get to them, students are trained to throw things in order to try to distract someone who might be trying to harm them.
Vaughn even pointed out a student’s impromptu safety measure — stuffing two erasers in the classroom door handle. When school officials tried to open the door during the drill, they were unable to do so.
That tip has now been shared with all teachers.
“It had an effect on how we look at things,” said third grade teacher Susan Bertke, who has spent 23 of her 25 years in education at Fort Recovery, of the training. “It definitely took us from the chance of being a sitting duck to being proactive …
“You have more control over the situation …”
Students have also found the training helpful.
“I wouldn’t have known what to do,” said eighth grader Ryan Braun.
Vaughn, Hartings and others involved acknowledged the safety measures aren’t perfect — if someone with a weapon wants to get into a school badly enough, they will. But the goal is to make that process as difficult as possible.
Despite the school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut last year, or at Araphaoe High School in Colorado this month, there remains a mentality that a school attack is unlikely to happen in tiny Fort Recovery.
“Because we do live in such a small community I don’t really ever think of someone breaking into the school,” said eighth grader Sydney Dues, “but I’m glad to know we know what to do if someone does.”[[In-content Ad]]