SPRINGDALE --A heightened awareness of school safety in the Springdale School District has followed a handful of gang-related shootings.
Everyday safety measures include locking most doors on the outside during the school day and using a buzzer entry system at the main entrance. Staff members are assigned to oversee parking lots, lunches and exterior doors that students use to access different buildings on their campuses.
Study of school safety practices nationwide
• 75 percent of schools used one or more security cameras
• 82 percent of schools had electronic notification systems to notify parents of emergencies
• 47 percent of schools had a structured anonymous threat reporting system
• 93 percent of schools had locked or monitored doors to control access to school buildings during school hours
• 68 percent of schools required faculty and staff to wear badges or picture IDs
Source: National Center on Education Statistics report on Public School Safety and Discipline: 2013-14
As of this school year, students must wear identification attached to a lanyard as an added measure of security, principals of both high schools said.
Two deaths have been blamed on gang-related shootings between March and August in Springdale. Teenagers are among those facing criminal charges and among those wounded. One teenager was killed in March.
The Springdale Police Department applied for a grant to increase the number of police officers serving as school resource officers from 10 to 17. The Police Department also is expanding a nationally known anti-gang education program to reach all fifth- and seventh-graders in the Springdale School District.
The Springdale School Board changed its anti-gang policy in September to include activity occurring on social media and away from school. About a dozen teenagers have been expelled for issues related to gangs and gang-related activity this school year.
"The most unfortunate part of this is that this has been an issue driven by very, very few people -- young people who have made some bad decisions," said Gary Compton, assistant superintendent for support services. "It overshadows the enormous good work done by virtually all the people in our district, both kids and adults."
Principals of both Har-Ber and Springdale high schools said the greatest measure of safety involves building relationships with students. Both high schools have advisory programs in place to provide students with an adult who knows them and keeps track of how they are doing in school.
Both principals hope to avoid having to resort to using metal detectors at entrances.
"The best defense against violent situations is to build relationships with students," said Har-Ber High School Principal Danny Brackett. "In every incident that's occurred around the country before, during and after Columbine, somebody has told somebody."
The student-led shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999 killed 15 people, including the two gunmen.
When students are comfortable with adults at school, they are more willing to let adults know what's going on, Brackett said.
Springdale High School Principal Pete Joenks said he and his staff are vigilant about school safety.
"Our kids are phenomenal," Joenks said. "They respond. They've come to me and talked to me. They don't want it on their campus either. They've got a lot of pride in our school."
Responding to concerns about gangs requires efforts of an entire community, including schools, churches, businesses and law enforcement working together to identify problems, said Larry Johnson, a retired police officer of 17 years who is now chief of staff and executive director of public safety for Grand Rapids, Mich., Public Schools. Johnson also is president of the National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officials.
A comprehensive plan
Teenagers and young adults gravitate toward gangs for a reason, including a loss of trust in adults, Johnson said. Breaking apart the social clubs created by a gang means providing positive alternatives, such as after-school programs, and rebuilding trust with adults.
"If they can build great relationships with young people, appropriate relationships, it helps to curb gang violence and school violence," Johnson said. "The trusted adults become the key to stopping school violence, stopping gang violence and reducing anti-social behaviors in school."
A holistic approach includes removing graffiti from neighborhoods, not making gangs feel empowered, educating students and adults, and offering strong anti-gang policies, a crisis committee and after-school programs, Johnson said.
In Grand Rapids, the district of 18,000 students in 50 buildings was confronted by gang violence, particularly in the 1990s, Johnson said. In 1993, more than 30 adolescents were killed because of gang activity, though no shootings occurred on school grounds, he said. Now, Johnson said he hears little talk of any gang activity among students.
The school district follows a comprehensive safety program and has conducted random, unannounced searches of students with portable walk-through metal detectors for more than 10 years, Johnson said. The searches early on yielded some lookalike guns and knives. School officials now rarely find anything of concern during the random sweeps.
Guns have been found on school grounds not because of the random searches, but because of students telling adults, Johnson said. The last time a gun was found on school grounds was about four years ago, he said.
"Communities can do it," Johnson said. "They have to be sincere about it. They have to work together to rid the community of gang activity before it gets going too heavy."
Springdale School District has crisis plans for all schools that go through a formal revision every couple of years, Compton said. Compton also regularly meets with a safety committee. He agreed with the need for a comprehensive, community-wide approach.
Maintaining safety
The physical size and number of students on Springdale's campuses make security more complex, Compton said. Har-Ber High School, opened in 2005, has about 400,000 square feet and 2,156 students. Springdale High School covers 443,000 square feet with about 2,250 students.
"There's not one public or private institution that is immune to violence," Brackett said. "You have to be diligent. You have to pay attention. The grace of God is what we count on."
But of all the places where Brackett has worked, including in central Arkansas, Brackett thinks Har-Ber High School is the easiest to secure. Most of the school is under one roof. Students sometimes will cross an outdoor courtyard during the day, and athletes begin and end the day in an outlying fieldhouse.
Teachers watch the courtyard, and coaches and staff have direct communication with the main office through radios and phones, Brackett said.
Springdale High School has about 80 exterior doors, Joenks said. Most of them are locked once the school day begins, but some doors have to remain open so students can access different buildings on campus. Teachers are assigned to monitor those doors. Other teachers are responsible for checking doors that are supposed to be locked.
Although conversations about metal detectors have come up, the only campus with stationary metal detectors is the Archer Learning Center, the district's alternative learning school, Compton said.
If a situation warranted use of a metal detector, Springdale principals would work with the Springdale Police Department for access to a metal-detecting wand, Joenks said. The wands have been used in the past in cases of stolen cellphones, he said.
Compton has been working on a document for Superintendent Jim Rollins on additional options for safety, including for surveillance, securing facilities, communication systems and new technology, he said.
"It's never done," Compton said.
Metro on 11/16/2015