Indian River adding extra measures to keep students safe
SELBYVILLE, Del. – School safety has been at the forefront of educators minds all summer.
It has to be after seeing the horrific school shootings that happened in Parkland, Florida and even right across the Bay Bridge at Great Mills High School in Maryland.
They’re events that have prompted law enforcement and administrators to review and update safety protocols.
Officials are looking at not only national trends, but local ones too to come up with the best plan to keep your kids safe.
“We’re always looking to do two things: one provide as much resistance as possible if we have an intruder and to really shorten response time of having somebody intercept that intruder,” explains Indian River Superintendent Mark Steele.
For the Indian River School District, it goes beyond emergency protocols and staff training, it’s added security measures too.
Steele says, “Instead of having to call the office and telling a secretary we need to go on lockdown, now with some of our schools not all, they’ll be able to simply activate that alarm by simply pressing a button on the radio.”
Although the focus on safety isn’t just on school grounds, officials are also looking at the transportation students take to and from school.
“We’re trying to make sure we’re equipped in our transportation system with cameras and this year we’re looking at 25 cameras on our buses.”
We’re told school safety has to be a team approach. It’s the only way to ensure the kids safety by starting with SROs and going all the way down to the students themselves. This year Indian River is really focusing on outreach and continuous training of all staff and students.
DSP School Resource Officer, Jeff Hudson, explains, “We want to make sure we’re out there for them. Parents are going to see maybe a different kid with a different question coming home this year with the Run Hide Fight. We want to be able to know that they’re asking parents and they’re talking to parents.”
Indian River isn’t just adding security measures, they’re also taking an extra step to ensure safety. They now have 16 mental health clinicians that are housed right in their schools.
Last year they started doing at-risk assessments. So when a student does or says something that prompts concern, the mental health counselor would be able to determine whether it’s a risk they should address or not.
If there is a risk, these clinicians can act as a therapist right there at the school.
Steele adds, “We may say there’s no threat here but, you know, I think this child may benefit from me seeing them and we get the parent permission and then the child can work with that clinical counselor. And really it’s like going to an outside therapist but it’s done right there.”
We’re told school resource officers also take on the role of a counselor too in hopes of providing even more support for students at school.
