District takes new school safety measures

Since the shooting in Parkland on Feb. 14, school officials across the country are reevaluating their plans to keeps student safe, SMMUSD included.    SMMUSD Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati has encouraged the review of current policies in place and the addition of more. While all SMMUSD schools perform lockdown drills frequently throughout the year, SMMUSD hopes that the new measures in place will further prepare its schools for a real shooting. “We take safety very seriously, and practice our emergency response plans frequently. Our school site and district emergency operations and active shooter trainings are methods in which we learn and practice how to best protect students and ourselves,” Drati said in a letter addressed to all students, their parents and members of the community on Feb. 15. As far as current intruder-policies, the district has a pre-existing “Comprehensive School Safety Plan” in effect. This 46-page document details school protocol for everything from earthquakes to shootings and is required by law to be updated each year.  Part of the district’s revised safety plans involves more frequent and varied lockdown drills. Scheduled drills are tools that have been a part of school curriculum for years, however they tend to be the same circumstances repeated. According to SMMUSD Director of Student Services Tara Brown, SMMUSD personnel feel that having drills at different times of day, so that students aren’t always practicing at the same location, and with different scenarios would lead to students being better prepared.  In addition to the revised safety plans, on Feb. 20, Drati sent a letter to all SMMUSD staff and community members advocating for the use of the crime-reporting platform, “WeTip.” Those who observe suspicious or erratic behavior can text a tip, and police departments will be notified. “We have been a ‘WeTip’ partner for several years. ‘WeTip’ is a great resource that is completely anonymous and a safe and simple way to report unsafe issues or concerns. ‘WeTip’ offers anonymous crime and bullying reporting, and anyone can report crime or bullying at 1(800)-78C-RIME or online at www.wetip.com,” Drati said in the letter. In addition to this, on March 1, Drati and the SMMUSD Board of Education adopted a “Resolution in Support of Common Sense Gun Laws.” In addition to reaffirming SMMUSD’s commitment to the ongoing review and improvement of the school safety plans, the resolution encourages state lawmakers to pass legislation that will protect all communities by outlawing semi-automatic weapon, adequately funding schools to hire more school health professionals like school psychologists and to expand training in threat assessment and bullying intervention. According to Brown, the job of a school psychologist is to be acquainted with students and their mental stability. Samo currently has three non-academic mental health counselors, and SMMUSD feels that having 1,000 students per person makes one-on-one relationships impractical.  Samo staff has been working with students to make plans if confronted with an active shooter on campus.  The aim of these are to ensure that students know how to practice safety at any time or venue. For example, on Thursday, March 1, during a rehearsal of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, the cast was hit with a staged shooter scenario. Samo theatre director Kate Barraza planned the simulation to prepare students for a mid-show crisis. “During the simulation, we learned what we’d do during a lockdown, an earthquake or any other scenario like that if it were to happen during a performance. I think that’s really important,” theater student Natalie Krenik (’20) said. Some teachers also used the occasion of the lock-down drill on Feb. 27 to discuss possible responses to an active shooter. Further student discussions are planned once teachers attend an active shooter training on Wednesday, March 21. “As a part of the training, we stress on teachers to be thinkers. As professionals, they have to be able to think, make a plan and take decisive action. You can’t train someone for every single possible situation, because no two crises are the same. We want our teachers to feel empowered in saving student’s lives. Student safety is our utmost priority,” Brown said.