HILLSBOROUGH: Teacher gives board three ideas for safer schools

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Middle school teacher Daynon Blevins suggested three actions Monday night that the Board of Education could take to make schools safer.
   Three days after the horrific mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Mr. Blevins told the board the district should:
   • Change locks to all classroom doors.
   • Reinstitute the school resource police officer to all buildings.
   • Put telephones in all classrooms.
   Mr. Blevins, who is also vice president of the education association, said all classroom doors should be able to be locked from the inside. Now, a teacher has to step into the hallway, use a key to turn the locking mechanism and pull the door shut as he or she steps into the room.
   Barbara Parker, president of the association, said after the meeting that teachers who change rooms frequently during the day have different keys for each room.
   There is a resource officer, who is armed and works with “at-risk” kids, in the high and middle schools now. Reintroducing them to all schools would put a police presence back in the schools at all times, Mr. Blevins said.
   He suggested putting phones connecting directly to the central office in all rooms, particularly at the middle and Hillsborough Elementary schools, he said. Phones would allow for a private conversation as well as a quiet, even covert, communication in an emergency.
   ”Those are three steps in the right direction,” he said.
   The school board observed a moment of silence at the beginning of the meeting for the victims, families and community in Newtown, Connecticut, that saw a lone, heavily armed gunman blast his way into an elementary school and murder 20 children — most of whom were first-graders — and six staffers.
   As details emerged, it was reported teachers barricaded rooms, hid students in closets and even hid under desks themselves as the gunman walked from room to room.
   Superintendent Jorden Schiff said each building’s crisis and leadership teams worked on the weekend to plan how to react to the shooting.
   He said teachers were given research-based information on how to respond to children who might have fears and questions. Counselors in all nine buildings were ready to receive children Monday, he said.
   He said he visited all six elementary school buildings and saw children and staffers reacting calmly, he said. A few children asked for private conversations, he said.
   Dr. Schiff, in a statement Monday, said, “We know that some of our children will have questions, concerns and fears. We also appreciate the fact that some families have also protected their children from the coverage of this event.”
   He said, “Age-appropriate conversations will be handled delicately and, in the case of younger students, outside of the classroom environment so as to respect each family’s decision.”
”This event cuts to the core of why we became educators,” he said Monday night.
   In Connecticut, events showed “true heroism” with cases of teachers using their own bodies to shield children.
   ”We honor them, we honor their memory, and we honor the children who are no longer with us,” he said.
   The superintendent said he would meet with local police to evaluate security changes. He said schools have invested in security cameras and have participated in active shooter drills with local police.
   An incident of graffiti at the Auten Road school was reported Friday, before the Connecticut shooting. It is under investigation, police said.
   ”We take the security of our schools very seriously,” Lt. Fran Mozgai said. “In light of the recent events, we have instructed our officers to increase their presence at the schools.”
   On its website Friday, the school system posted Internet links to resources to give tips on how to speak with children about the shooting.
   The school website also suggested, “Experts in the field consistently recommend allowing children to express their concerns, but limit their exposure to the media. As parents, the most important thing you can do is to maintain a sense of normalcy and keep your daily routines the same. It is important to reassure children that the adults in their lives are doing everything they can to make their schools and homes safe.”
   The school site urged parents who might see any symptoms of stress in their child to contact the child’s school to speak with a school counselor.
   It also said, “Remember to hug your children a little longer this weekend. Together, we can reassure our students that Hillsborough schools are a safe place to be.”