cstockmyer
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(CBS4) DENVER In the wake of the deadly shooting at Platte Canyon High School and now the one in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, many parents are understandably worried about the safety of our schools. Armed intruders in schools is a new category of violence that many may not have considered in the past which prompted CBS4 to ask the Tough Question: What's being done to keep intruders out of our schools?
The good news is that many of the changes that were made in the wake of the Columbine shooting apply to these kinds of potential threats. Those changes include modifying school architecture so that most schools have a single entrance that is hopefully protected by watchful eyes. Also, the shooting at Columbine taught us to take every threat seriously.
Some new measures are also being put into place.
Parents of students at Denver's East High School got notes this week about a plan to require student and staff to wear I.D. badges at school. The principal at Denver's West High School, Pat Sanchez, keeps an eye on students when they're in the halls, but he told CBS4 that he's also concerned when the halls are empty.
"Part of what we have done is we have people on duty in our building, supervising at all times," Sanchez said.
Like many of the schools in the metro area, West High School has cameras and resource officers.
"The best deterrent is actually human interaction," said Bruce Snelling, head of security for Denver Public Schools. "So if we have campus security officers there, their job is to challenge somebody who walks on campus."
In Douglas County Schools, there are security people posted near the front door of every building.
Security officers ask a lot of questions and added volunteers this week to monitor doors at elementary schools.
Many of metro area elementary schools are lacking security measures. Since the perpetrators at Columbine were students, many districts added cameras and changed procedures at middle and high schools. Since the most recent attacks were committed by strangers, elementary schools are becoming more vigilant.
Many of the districts CBS4 talked to said they're not implementing new initiatives mostly because they feel comfortable with the changes they've already made.
Officials in Weld County said they're reinforcing their visitor check-in procedure. Cherry Creek Schools said they already require staff to wear badges and they've trained students and staff to report outsiders. In Boulder County, principals were reviewing their crisis plans. Jefferson County Schools, Aurora Schools and Adams District 14 also said they're being more vigilant when it comes to monitoring strangers coming into their buildings.
All of this though may begin to should as if we have to act paranoid.
Douglas County Safety Director, Larry Borland, said he hopes these attacks and security measures don't make everyone paranoid.
"Well, I hope we're not paranoid, I hope we're prudent ... the world's a different place," Borland said. "I mean the world is a different place since Columbine, it's a different place since 9/11. We have to be reasonable, we have to be prudent, but I don't think we have to be paranoid."
Experts said short of adding heavily armed squads to protect schools, there is still risk.
"The best thing we can do is to try to be proactive and to make sure that we have security in place, front line security where somebody sees a school as a target and we deter them somehow," Snelling said.
The Head of Security for Douglas County Schools also told CBS4 that parents are some of the biggest offenders when it comes to violations of security rules. Many of them want to come and go quickly without restrictions.
I got that from News4colorado.com
I have some questions:
-Who gets to ask the guy with the gun where his ID badge is?
- I have NEVER seen security at my mothers school, at best they have teachers at all doors during the morning, lunch and after school.
Am I the only one who thinks this is like closing the door to the barn after the cows got free??
The good news is that many of the changes that were made in the wake of the Columbine shooting apply to these kinds of potential threats. Those changes include modifying school architecture so that most schools have a single entrance that is hopefully protected by watchful eyes. Also, the shooting at Columbine taught us to take every threat seriously.
Some new measures are also being put into place.
Parents of students at Denver's East High School got notes this week about a plan to require student and staff to wear I.D. badges at school. The principal at Denver's West High School, Pat Sanchez, keeps an eye on students when they're in the halls, but he told CBS4 that he's also concerned when the halls are empty.
"Part of what we have done is we have people on duty in our building, supervising at all times," Sanchez said.
Like many of the schools in the metro area, West High School has cameras and resource officers.
"The best deterrent is actually human interaction," said Bruce Snelling, head of security for Denver Public Schools. "So if we have campus security officers there, their job is to challenge somebody who walks on campus."
In Douglas County Schools, there are security people posted near the front door of every building.
Security officers ask a lot of questions and added volunteers this week to monitor doors at elementary schools.
Many of metro area elementary schools are lacking security measures. Since the perpetrators at Columbine were students, many districts added cameras and changed procedures at middle and high schools. Since the most recent attacks were committed by strangers, elementary schools are becoming more vigilant.
Many of the districts CBS4 talked to said they're not implementing new initiatives mostly because they feel comfortable with the changes they've already made.
Officials in Weld County said they're reinforcing their visitor check-in procedure. Cherry Creek Schools said they already require staff to wear badges and they've trained students and staff to report outsiders. In Boulder County, principals were reviewing their crisis plans. Jefferson County Schools, Aurora Schools and Adams District 14 also said they're being more vigilant when it comes to monitoring strangers coming into their buildings.
All of this though may begin to should as if we have to act paranoid.
Douglas County Safety Director, Larry Borland, said he hopes these attacks and security measures don't make everyone paranoid.
"Well, I hope we're not paranoid, I hope we're prudent ... the world's a different place," Borland said. "I mean the world is a different place since Columbine, it's a different place since 9/11. We have to be reasonable, we have to be prudent, but I don't think we have to be paranoid."
Experts said short of adding heavily armed squads to protect schools, there is still risk.
"The best thing we can do is to try to be proactive and to make sure that we have security in place, front line security where somebody sees a school as a target and we deter them somehow," Snelling said.
The Head of Security for Douglas County Schools also told CBS4 that parents are some of the biggest offenders when it comes to violations of security rules. Many of them want to come and go quickly without restrictions.
I got that from News4colorado.com
I have some questions:
-Who gets to ask the guy with the gun where his ID badge is?
- I have NEVER seen security at my mothers school, at best they have teachers at all doors during the morning, lunch and after school.
Am I the only one who thinks this is like closing the door to the barn after the cows got free??
