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Local task force meeting hits home amid tragedy

BOB ROLLEY/THE EXPRESS As a parent and person who cares for children as a profession, Beth Bartlett, membership director at the Lock Haven YMCA, offers her thoughts about student safety while participating in the statewide school security task force Friday at Central Mountain High School.

Safe schools

By KATHRYN KLINE

www.lockhaven.com

The Pennsylvania School Safety Task Force held a meeting on school security at Central Mountain High School on Friday afternoon, one that could not have been scheduled for a more pertinent time following a deadly shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas.

Led by state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and Marcus Brown, director of the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security, the task force meeting, one of six being held across the commonwealth, is part of an initiative created in March by Gov. Tom Wolf to generate “student-led” discussions about school safety and security.

BOB ROLLEY/THE EXPRESS Keystone Central School District nurse Dawn Stabley, second from left, and Keystone Superintendent Dr. Alan Lonoconus, second from right, participated in Thursday’s task force roundtable.

Task force members include vice chairs Bonita Allen, president of the Pennsylvania Parent Teacher Association; Judy Morgitan, past president of the Pennsylvania Association of School Nurses and Practitioners; Dr. Mark DiRocco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, and special guests Derin Meyers, acting executive director of Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and Dolores McCracken, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

Local school representatives who talked with the task force included CM students Joseph Moore, Sarabeth Bowmaster and Kendall McCluskey, plus Keystone Central School District Superintendent Dr. Alan Lonoconus, Nurse Dawn Stabley and Beth Bartlett of the Lock Haven YMCA, among others.

The tone set by the Santa Fe shooting that killed at least 10 people – nine students and a teacher – made the issues of school safety and security discussed in the meeting even more relevant – something that was not ignored by leaders of the meeting.

“Our hearts go out to the school, to the students and their families. This just highlights how important it is for what we’re doing: Making sure that we, as a state, are listening to the people. We want our school systems to be in the best possible place they can be,” Brown stated.

Only 20 weeks into 2018 and there has already been 22 school shootings in the United States – the 22nd being Friday’s tragedy at Santa Fe High School in Texas.

Police said a student with weapons killed 10 people and injured many other students, teachers and even law enforcement.

It was the deadliest shooting since the massacre at a high school in Parkland, Fla., which sparked heated debates and marches mainly led by high school students.

As students across the country become increasingly involved in the gun-control and mental health debate, it was fitting that government officials offered Keystone Central students and community members the opportunity to voice their opinions.

“How can we know our students better? How can our students know each other better? This gives our teachers and students an opportunity to listen to state officials and offer solutions,” said Dr. Lonoconus.

He said the goals of the task force and how communication between students and school officials occurs can help prevent violence in schools.

The task force met in the high school library, with participants sitting and facing eachother in a wide square.

Discussion was spontaneous.

Talk centered on how schools can improve safety through strengthening efforts to address the physical and mental health of students, improving security of school buildings through training for students and staff, and preparing staff, students, and first responders to respond to mass shootings and threats.

A task force press release said parents, school officials, law enforcement, community members, statewide education organizations, and government officials participated in this roun table meeting, in addition to CMHS students.

“There’s not one simple thing that’s going to solve these problems,” Brown emphasized following the task force meeting.

“One incident at any one school is more than any of us want to see. Our feeling is that if we can come up with some best practices, from what students, community members, and public safety officials are saying – then we can get that information back to the schools and take small steps to make schools safer,” he told The Express.

The task force meeting also focused on “on-the-ground tactics” to insure school safety, said Nate Wardle, press secretary for the state Department of Health.

In other words, the task force talked about specific school security features and measures – issues the group did not want to make public.

Students and parents alike voiced their opinions on various issues, including arming teachers, connecting school video surveillance to the 911 dispatch center, and adding CPR and First-Aid training to school curriculum in order to prepare students.

“We need to help students recognize other students that may be having difficulties or finding things that are threatening. We have to do a better job on telling students and parents how to report those things to authorities,” said Dr. Lonoconous, on the subject of finding better means of reporting threats, another issue discussed in the meeting.

Some participants expressed concern for arming teachers, arguing that there is a clear increase in violence when increasing firearms.

Others referenced statistics stating that the shooting accuracy of trained officers decreases to as low as 18 percent during gunfights, bringing into question whether arming teachers, who are not trained in law enforcement, would only lead to more injuries or deaths.

Others took the opposite view, stating the problems they have with active shooter drills in that students who aren’t in classrooms at the time of a shooter entering – whether they’re in the bathroom or hallway – may have no protection from teachers who must lock their classroom doors.

One mother argued that if teachers were armed, this could make a huge difference in protecting students and saving lives in those crucial moments before law enforcement arrives.

The priorities

Gov. Tom Wolf’s School Safety Task Force is holding meetings to gather perspectives before issuing a final report in June. The priorities for the task force are:

r Hearing from school officials, teachers, parents, students, law enforcement, health professionals, and community partners about their concerns with safety and potential policy changes.

r Determining funding needs for the Office for Safe Schools, security and safety personnel, school counselors and nurses, and additional or upgraded security equipment.

r Examining effectiveness of student support and physical and mental health programs and information sharing.

r Evaluating stronger state requirements for active shooter trainings and other security protocols.

r Strengthening information and best practice sharing among local schools, law enforcement, health care providers, and human services programs; and

r Examining tools to ensure easy and effective anonymous reporting of suspicious activity to law enforcement.

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