Threat reported at Crane School last Tuesday
School Safety a Topic of Discussion at Board Meeting
|
April 5, 2018
|
|
Isaac Estes-Jones
“At no time were any students in any danger,” said Chris Johnson, Crane Schools Superintendent about the threat reported after school on Tuesday, March 27.
“A parent called [the threat] in around 4 p.m. on Tuesday,” Johnson said. According to law, most details of the event on Tuesday cannot be made publicly known, including students involved. However, Dr. Johnson assured the Chronicle and parents that immediate action was taken and no students were in danger. We can confirm that the threat happened on one of the school buses after classes were dismissed for the day.
“Once the call came in, we had our administration, myself and law enforcement involved within 10 minutes.”
While no details on the involved students has been released, Johnson said the matter was turned over Juvenile and that additional disciplinary actions will be taken according to policy.
“I greatly appreciate the parent who called this in and let us know,” Johnson said.
In response to rumors, Johnson said, “at no point was there a gun on school property or the school bus. No one was in possession of a weapon.”
Tuesday night, after investigations were concluded, the following message went out to parents:
“It was reported by a parent that a student made a threat involving a gun on one of the buses on the way home this evening. The District took immediate action. Administration and Law Enforcement investigated the report. It has been turned over to Juvenile. At no time were students in danger. Disciplinary actions will be taken according to school policy.”
Continuing to discuss school safety
The school has had multiple discussions about school safety in light of recent events around the country.
At the March school board meeting, two members of the public addressed the board about increasing safety at the school. Katie Fulp presented a multi-tiered system that she thought would make the school safer, and Jesse Smith spoke about the need for the North Stone Northeast Barry County Fire Department to have plans of the schools if they should ever be the first to respond to an emergency call. Smith also discussed having a resource officer or some other armed personnel on campus.
“Safety is always a topic of conversation,” Johnson said at the meeting, which was held on Wednesday, March 21. “Earlier this year, we completely revamped our safety plans,” she said.
Fulp said, “I know you think safety is important. So I want find out what we’re doing to keep kids safe and what measures we can take to increase security. I have several suggestions, which I think are scalable from bigger schools.”
Fulp’s three-tiered proposal would be a way to scale up safety. “Don’t be afraid to be the safest school in the area,” she said. In tier one, Fulp would like the school to have regular awareness campaigns to promote reporting suspicious or harmful behavior, along with collaboration with the police department and other suggestions. Fulp’s second tier included setting up a tip-line for reporting behavior and bullet-proofing all entry points. Finally, Fulp proposed the school hire a resource officer and install metal detectors.
“I’m not saying to put all of these in place right now or anything,” Fulp said, “I just want to give some ideas so you can have further conversations on safety. I also want to say I am not for arming teachers.”
“We don’t make a lot of our safety measures public,” said one board member, “So that anyone wanting to do something won’t know what we do.”
Johnson did share some of the safety measures the school has recently taken up. “One thing we did is change the process for fire alarms. Now, it is a two tier system where students don’t leave the classrooms until a second message comes from administration. Another thing is we have locks on the inside of every classroom door,” Johnson said. “We try to think outside of the box on safety. In April, we will have Behavior Risk Assessment Team Training for our staff, which will help staff learn to identify behaviors and risks.”
Caysie Turner, High School Principal, said, “In the High School, we have staff identifying kids without a significant connection to an adult. We are trying to be proactive. We will also soon have an anti-bullying tip service on the website, but that isn’t up yet.”
Jesse Smith, of the North Stone Northeast Barry County Fire Protection District addressed the board after Fulp.
“We would be one of the first here after a call,” Smith said of the FPD, “But, we don’t know this school. We don’t know where all the entrances are, all of the exits. The FPD should have that stuff.” The school administration immediately addressed this, sending the school’s safety packet, which includes plans, locations, etc. to Smith after he spoke.
“I also want to talk about getting a resource officer at the school,” Smith said. “Resource officers often are more highly trained than some of our police officers, with 300-400 hours of training when a new cop just has 40 or so.
“I just want to say, there are people who would help provide funds for a resource officer,” Smith concluded.
Safety is an important topic, especially these days, so the school board made clear that they are always looking for ways to keep students safe.
“At no time were any students in any danger,” said Chris Johnson, Crane Schools Superintendent about the threat reported after school on Tuesday, March 27.
“A parent called [the threat] in around 4 p.m. on Tuesday,” Johnson said. According to law, most details of the event on Tuesday cannot be made publicly known, including students involved. However, Dr. Johnson assured the Chronicle and parents that immediate action was taken and no students were in danger. We can confirm that the threat happened on one of the school buses after classes were dismissed for the day.
“Once the call came in, we had our administration, myself and law enforcement involved within 10 minutes.”
While no details on the involved students has been released, Johnson said the matter was turned over Juvenile and that additional disciplinary actions will be taken according to policy.
“I greatly appreciate the parent who called this in and let us know,” Johnson said.
In response to rumors, Johnson said, “at no point was there a gun on school property or the school bus. No one was in possession of a weapon.”
Tuesday night, after investigations were concluded, the following message went out to parents:
“It was reported by a parent that a student made a threat involving a gun on one of the buses on the way home this evening. The District took immediate action. Administration and Law Enforcement investigated the report. It has been turned over to Juvenile. At no time were students in danger. Disciplinary actions will be taken according to school policy.”
Continuing to discuss school safety
The school has had multiple discussions about school safety in light of recent events around the country.
At the March school board meeting, two members of the public addressed the board about increasing safety at the school. Katie Fulp presented a multi-tiered system that she thought would make the school safer, and Jesse Smith spoke about the need for the North Stone Northeast Barry County Fire Department to have plans of the schools if they should ever be the first to respond to an emergency call. Smith also discussed having a resource officer or some other armed personnel on campus.
“Safety is always a topic of conversation,” Johnson said at the meeting, which was held on Wednesday, March 21. “Earlier this year, we completely revamped our safety plans,” she said.
Fulp said, “I know you think safety is important. So I want find out what we’re doing to keep kids safe and what measures we can take to increase security. I have several suggestions, which I think are scalable from bigger schools.”
Fulp’s three-tiered proposal would be a way to scale up safety. “Don’t be afraid to be the safest school in the area,” she said. In tier one, Fulp would like the school to have regular awareness campaigns to promote reporting suspicious or harmful behavior, along with collaboration with the police department and other suggestions. Fulp’s second tier included setting up a tip-line for reporting behavior and bullet-proofing all entry points. Finally, Fulp proposed the school hire a resource officer and install metal detectors.
“I’m not saying to put all of these in place right now or anything,” Fulp said, “I just want to give some ideas so you can have further conversations on safety. I also want to say I am not for arming teachers.”
“We don’t make a lot of our safety measures public,” said one board member, “So that anyone wanting to do something won’t know what we do.”
Johnson did share some of the safety measures the school has recently taken up. “One thing we did is change the process for fire alarms. Now, it is a two tier system where students don’t leave the classrooms until a second message comes from administration. Another thing is we have locks on the inside of every classroom door,” Johnson said. “We try to think outside of the box on safety. In April, we will have Behavior Risk Assessment Team Training for our staff, which will help staff learn to identify behaviors and risks.”
Caysie Turner, High School Principal, said, “In the High School, we have staff identifying kids without a significant connection to an adult. We are trying to be proactive. We will also soon have an anti-bullying tip service on the website, but that isn’t up yet.”
Jesse Smith, of the North Stone Northeast Barry County Fire Protection District addressed the board after Fulp.
“We would be one of the first here after a call,” Smith said of the FPD, “But, we don’t know this school. We don’t know where all the entrances are, all of the exits. The FPD should have that stuff.” The school administration immediately addressed this, sending the school’s safety packet, which includes plans, locations, etc. to Smith after he spoke.
“I also want to talk about getting a resource officer at the school,” Smith said. “Resource officers often are more highly trained than some of our police officers, with 300-400 hours of training when a new cop just has 40 or so.
“I just want to say, there are people who would help provide funds for a resource officer,” Smith concluded.
Safety is an important topic, especially these days, so the school board made clear that they are always looking for ways to keep students safe.