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School Security: How It Affects PTOs
Two intruders who slipped into three schools in Wisconsin’s Mequon-Thiensville School District on a single day last September were finally nabbed when trying to steal a teacher’s purse.Though unsuccessful, the attempted theft—and the fact that two men reported to be convicted felons freely roamed campuses while classes were in session—prompted the school board to examine access controls for its four elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school.
Immediate changes were adopted: a photo ID badge system for all staff, better enforcement of visitor sign-in and badges, and the locking of all doors except the main entrance. But the board also explored other alternatives, especially the possibility of installing a buzzer entry system with an intercom and video cameras. The cost was prohibitive, though, and such a system seemed impractical during busy mornings and afternoons. And parents objected loudly, worried about the consequences of such a change.
“A lot of parents felt that it would create an unwelcoming and hostile atmosphere in a school that was traditionally very open,” says Peter Stone, president of the Mequon-Thiensville School Board.
A better solution seemed to be reconfiguring the entrances to create a single access point through the office—until the delivery of a $1 million estimate for the necessary renovations to older buildings, including asbestos removal, equipment, and rewiring. Also scrapped due to expense was the suggestion to hire guards or monitors to sign people in and out.
In the end, the school board voted not to take any action beyond the changes already made. “It’s good we took our time with it,” says Stone. “At the outset there was a tendency to overreact, but we haven’t had a history of intruders or violence. The conclusion was that we feel our schools are pretty safe.”
The safety and security assessment undertaken by the Mequon-Thiensville District is typical of what is happening at schools across the country. In the wake of numerous school shootings, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the Washington, D.C.-area sniper hysteria, schools have become increasingly security conscious. And in many places, this means not only securing buildings but also looking more closely at volunteers.
The End of Open Campus
Anyone who attended school before the 1970s remembers schools with little if any security. Often modeled after universities, schools were built with separate buildings for different subject areas or grades, out of the way places for students to study, multiple entrances, and no fences.
This open environment created problems when schools began investing in expensive audiovisual equipment such as TVs and VCRs. With no systems to secure these investments, much less burglar alarms, the resulting high rates of theft brought a new attention to security. Nowadays, that attention has expanded to include a wide array of terrorist threats as well as violence from within and without.
“In 1999 the focus was on intruders and school shootings in response to incidents like Columbine,” says Clarissa Snapp, director of the Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy in Indianapolis. “Since 9/11 it’s expanded to terrorism and anthrax and dirty bombs and the need to have a shelter in place in case of a bioterrorism attack.”
Yet with all of these concerns, many schools remain vulnerable. According to a survey of 658 school-based police officers attending a National Association of School Resource Officers conference in 2002, 96 percent thought that gaining access to outside grounds at their schools was very easy or somewhat easy, with 83 percent considering inside access very easy or somewhat easy.
Monitoring Volunteers
There is also increasing concern about parent volunteers. A growing number of the nation’s 15,500 public school districts now require criminal background checks for volunteers, according to the National School Safety Center in Westlake, Calif.
In Oregon’s Sherwood School District, for example, all school volunteers complete a criminal history form asking whether they’ve ever been convicted of a sex-related crime; a crime involving violence or the threat of violence; a crime involving criminal activity, drugs, or alcoholic beverages; or any other crime except a minor traffic violation. These applications are sent to the state’s department of education, where checks revealing any such convictions disqualify potential volunteers. Last year, out of 300 applications about five did not pass, according to Dalena Ruiz, who coordinates the checks for the district. The district pays $5 per background check, and volunteers within the district are required to submit only one application for as long as they volunteer at schools within the district.
Annual criminal history checks are required at Artie L. Henry Middle School in Cedar Park, Texas. Gail Rodriguez is one of two parent volunteers who submit applications to a district coordinator; names of those approved are returned in about a week, except for a heavier backlog at the start of a new academic year. Last year, says Rodriguez, about 180 parents applied to volunteer.
Background checks have been discussed at Woodbridge Middle School in Woodbridge, Va., but not yet implemented. “We wrung our hands about it, worried that it would be hard to get volunteers if they ran a background check,” says former PTO President Ken Ikeda.
Access More Difficult
In Massachusetts, a new law goes even further, requiring that anyone who might potentially have unsupervised contact with schoolchildren to undergo a criminal offense record investigation. Among those who might be affected are visiting artists represented by Jean Butler, the sole proprietor of Arts Are Essential Inc., in Acton, Mass.
While Butler and her artists have gladly cooperated with individual check-in procedures and regularly work in the presence of parent coordinators or staff liaisons—and have in fact opted for voluntary background checks in anticipation of the new law—she worries about its reach. “What the school systems are finding is that they had not anticipated the literal translation of the law, that the UPS man or the mailman or the grandparent who comes in to bring a birthday cake all run the potential of unsupervised contact with schoolchildren. They’re finding the need for hundreds of applications. The florist delivering balloons for a birthday party, the food service person bringing hamburger buns—theoretically, the schools may have to ask all those employers to use only people who have undergone background checks.”
While Butler believes that arts advocates will persevere to continue to invite artists to their schools, she also views these changes as “another hurdle to place in a bureaucratic line of things that have to be done so this can happen.”
Some schools also require volunteers to undergo training, which varies widely. At Indian Hill Primary School in Cincinnati, where PTO members help conduct campus safety audits, training includes guidance about how to supervise playground play.
“We talk about the specifics of managing 160 or 170 children on the playground,” says Principal Sandra Harte. “We go out and look at the equipment. We tell them to keep their eyes open.”
Peter Blauvelt, president of the National Alliance for Safe Schools in Slanesville, W.Va., would go even further. Not only does he urge parents not to stand bunched together when supervising play, he advises that certain tools are necessary for parents on watch, such as a pad and pencil, disposable camera, and walkie-talkies. He also recommends CPR or first aid training.
Since last year, all volunteers in Maryland’s Carroll County public schools have been required to attend an annual 30-minute district training session that covers everything from child abuse, sexual harassment, and emergency evacuation procedures to weapons and blood-borne pathogens. This training is intended not only to protect children but the volunteers, too.
“One of the things we teach them is how to use a barrier between themselves and the source of bodily fluid,” says Pamela Ayres, director of minority achievement and intervention programs for Carroll County Public Schools.
Some parents have expressed concern about the fact that the training must be completed every year, but once the district explained how emergency and crisis plans have changed yearly since September 11, says Bill Ullrich, the county’s parent volunteer coordinator, “then people were okay with that.”
Keeping in Touch
Communication, in fact, is a key element of successful school security. “It’s real clear to me that parents want schools to better communicate about school safety,” says Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services in Cleveland. “But a lot of times school officials think if they talk about it, that will alarm parents, so they don’t say anything. So there’s definitely a communication gap.” In the NASRO survey, the school-based police officers concurred, with 74 percent feeling that their schools do not educate parents and communicate effectively with parents on school safety, security, and crisis planning issues.
“The schools I’ve seen that have handled this most successfully are those that advertise it to parents,” says Snapp. “They explain it in newsletters or in some other way that they are entrusted first and foremost with the child’s safety, so security is a necessary precaution. Parents who have discussed it with me have felt relief. They know this is what is supposed to happen from now on. They’re more critical when procedures are not followed than when they are. They make comments like ‘Well, nobody checked me; I could have walked right in.’ There’s such a level of awareness that parents want to know schools are keeping their child safe.”
Such communication is most obvious as it relates to school access, for volunteers are increasingly finding locked doors and sharper scrutiny of visitors. At Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Md., where a sniper attack wounded a youngster last year, volunteers with two-way radios man a table by a back door, a long walk from the office but closer to some temporary classrooms. “Some people were a little annoyed at first,” says PTSO President Joyce Ober. “It may be a little inconvenient. But more people assume this is the way it should be.”
Finding enough volunteers to perform this duty is a challenge, though. “It’s not a foolproof system,” admits Ober. “Sometimes volunteers don’t show up or have to leave early. Sometimes a school employee will cover for them. And I just man the table from time to time.” A formal schedule should help provide more consistent coverage this year. Of more concern are the portables, where the PTSO hopes to install telephones despite the great expense.
Parent Power
Virginia’s Woodbridge Middle School also felt pressure during the area’s sniper attacks, despite the presence of a full-time security officer. Parents do their part by volunteering for the school’s greeter program, meeting visitors at the front door and directing them to sign in. “They don’t consider themselves a security force,” says former PTO President Ken Ikeda. “They don’t feel they have to be intimidating. They keep an upbeat, friendly atmosphere and lend a certain vigilance to the school. They provide an adult presence watching what’s going on.”
The greeters are on duty four hours each weekday and, as with most schools, finding enough volunteers is a challenge. “Some weeks we’re successful, some not,” says Ikeda.
Not everyone thinks that just monitoring visitors is enough. Blauvelt believes that having visitors sign in is useless. “Having parents sign in a log book is ludicrous,” he says. “Out of 100 names, you can’t read four.” He suggests asking for an ID, having the volunteer on duty record the name, and then escorting the visitor to his or her destination.
At sign-in, visitors at many schools receive a badge. Calvin Coolidge Elementary in Wyckoff, N.J., has discussed using badges color-coded for different areas of the school, according to former PTO President Cathy Ingrasci. Some schools use badges that change colors or photo IDs, both of which can deter intruders from creating their own badges to skirt the system.
“We have advised, especially during increased threat levels, that picture IDs be used,” says Snapp. And Blauvelt recommends permanent numbered badges that must be turned in at the end of a visit.
Video equipment, especially surveillance cameras, are a more expensive tool chosen by many schools. The PTO at Sardis Elementary in Monroe, N.C., spent $14,000 on a three-camera system a few years ago, then added two more cameras last year for $1,100. Monitors in the office can now keep an eye on entrances, hallways, the bus parking lot, and the office itself. “We take surveys at the end of the year before about what to use the money for,” says PTO President Crystal Grant. “Security was a big thing with 9-11, and the county couldn’t afford the cameras. We didn’t want anyone roaming the school who we didn’t know about.”
But another school PTO president (who asked that her small school not be identified due to security concerns) urges any group thinking about such an investment to get multiple estimates with contracts specifying exactly what is covered. “When this vendor put in our security system, he started finding things we needed that were not included, and the price went up with every need he found,” she says, adding that the final bill topped $3,500.
Schools, in fact, are considered easy marks for unscrupulous security salespeople. “Schools get ripped off so much,” says Mary Green, a security specialist with Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., and author of the 1999 National Institute of Justice report, The Appropriate and Effective Use of Security Technologies in U.S. Schools. “Schools notoriously buy outdated equipment because they don’t have the manpower to have someone dedicated to researching, to go to security technology shows. Vendors have sold to schools technology sitting on a shelf that they would never have been able to sell to a business.” She recommends becoming knowledgeable by asking questions of more than one salesperson and admitting what you don’t know.
But even more important, says Green, are people. She wishes every parent would work two days a year as a school greeter. “Having an adult say ‘May I help you?’ is worth a lot of technologies,” she says.
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