Parents say school security is a top priority. Here’s what schools are doing about it

With all Whatcom County students back in class this week, school safety enhancements are one of the top priorities for parents in Washington state, according to a survey conducted by the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

The OSPI has released results of a six-week study that started in April and drew opinions from approximately 30,000 Washingtonians. Educators, parents, family members and community members were asked to rank 15 different K-12 education priorities in terms of importance.

Student support services, such as counseling, advising and mental health was selected the No. 1 priority overall, but parents who participated in the study ranked school safety enhancements equally high, along with access to career and technical education and work-based learning opportunities.

Niche.com, which grades and ranks schools and districts in a handful of categories based on data from the U.S. Department of Education along with reviews and survey responses from families, ranked one Whatcom County school district — No. 7 Meridian — among the top 10 safest districts in the state. No. 46 Lynden and No. 69 Nooksack Valley also were among the top 100 safest in the state, while no Whatcom district received below a “C-” grade for safety.

Here’s a look at how the seven public school districts in Whatcom County are trying to improve safety for the 2018-19 school year:

Bellingham

Plans and security improvements in the Bellingham School District “are fairly constant and on-going throughout the year,” according to Director of School Safety and Emergency Management Jonah Stinson.

Stinson said recent plans the district has been focusing on include working to update classroom resource guides, developing a crisis reunification plan, making progress with school bus and student tracking safety technology and expanding the number of first aid/CPR-trained employees in the district.

“We also spent some time this summer planning for our bond projects that will be happening over the next few years (like video surveillance, emergency notification systems, etc.),” Stinson said.

The Bellingham Police Department also has started an Adopt-a-School program, getting officers to adopt one of the district’s 21 schools and visit kids and teachers throughout the school year.

The program was started to help build relationships between students and officers, according to a release.

Even Chief David Doll got in on the adoption process, meeting the principal, some teachers and students Wednesday on the first day of school at Fairhaven Middle School, which he attended “just a few years ago,” he said with a smile.

“Our Adopt-a-School program is another great opportunity for your police officers to build positive relationships with the children in our community – relationships which will undoubtedly last a lifetime,” Doll said in the release.

Blaine

Electronic door locking systems have been installed at Blaine Primary School, Blaine Elementary School and Blaine Middle School. Camera monitors also are installed at main entry points, allowing for a “buzz in” feature.

“This security system will provide increased monitoring and more direct management of the flow of pedestrian traffic,” Superintendent Ronald C. Spanjer said. “Details of the management of these new features remains under discussion at the administrative level and will be communicated more specifically as the new school year gets underway.”

Spanjer added that Blaine High School’s electronic door locking and monitoring system will not be fully functional until construction is complete at the school (expected to be summer of 2019).

Spanjer also said the district is working with the City of Blaine to have a full-time school resource officer on campus no later than Jan. 3, replacing the current arrangement for a part-time officer.

Ferndale

The Ferndale School District has focused most of its efforts on prevention this year, Superintendent Linda Quinn said.

“We’ve invested a lot of time and effort over the course of the last five years to being as prepared as possible to respond to any kind of emergency situation,” she said. “In 2018-19, we’re expanding our focus to really up our game in preventing them.”

Quinn said the district has hired six and a half counselors districtwide, placing one in every elementary school and creating a new position in the district office as coordinator of social and emergency learning.

“We believe some of the emergencies around the country in recent years have been preventable,” Quinn said. “We believe prevention means being really aware of what’s going on with every one of our kids and teaching our kids coping skills.”

In addition, everybody from administrators to bus drivers went through Stop the Bleeding training to help prepare in the case of an emergency. Quinn said the district is also refining its family reunification plans — how to reunite students and parents in case a school has to be evacuated.

Ferndale is planning some large-scale drills, too, Quinn said, and the district is continuing work to build relationships with the community, using programs such as Bite with a Buddy, in which students and law enforcement officers eat lunch together.

Lynden

Lynden had a busy summer with a number of security upgrades.

“Some things were started prior to summer,” assistant superintendent David VanderYacht said, pointing to a series of community meetings. “The work continues.”

Among the changes VanderYacht noted:

▪ A focus on strengthening schools’ relationships and communication with law enforcement agencies and collaborating on drills, exercises and services to support a safe learning environment.

▪ Updated family reunification procedures in the event it becomes necessary and asking families to update emergency contact information.

▪ Added a full-time mentor coordinator position to expand the district’s Be The One mentoring program at Lynden Middle School.

▪ Developed a threat assessment team and completed training on how school teams can identify potential threats and get help when there is concern about an individual student.

▪ Trained 10 staff members to become youth mental health first aid trainers. They will help teach parents, family members, health and human services workers and other community members how to help an adolescent who is experiencing challenges or is in crisis. VanderYacht said the district wants to offer this training to all staff and interested community members over the next three years.

▪ Updated harassment, intimidation and bullying reporting, investigation and communication protocols.

▪ New schools Fisher Elementary and Lynden Middle School have modernized safety design and technology to provide line-of-sight supervision and electronic surveillance, including access card readers on many doors and direct push-button communication with law enforcement.

▪ Lynden High School now directs all entry through key doors, and fencing and gates were installed to secure the perimeter during school hours. Isom Elementary and Vossbeck Elementary were upgraded to include access control features and push-button communication with police comparable to the new schools.

Meridian

Meridian High School was midway through its expansion project when the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting happened in 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut, superintendent James Everett said.

“We paused the project and examined the entrance and how to make it safer at that time,” Everett said. “We created a courtyard, as part of the design, that was locked down and had a single point of access. We set it up so people would have to be buzzed in after school started.”

Everett said the district has since used similar designs for all its schools.

The district also has created “a campaign about knowing our kids,” Everett said, creating a climate where anyone with concerns can bring them forward.

“The key is being present and knowing who our students and who our families are,” Everett said.

For the past five years, the district also has hosted an office for the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office near the high school campus, giving them a nearby police presence, Everett said.

Mount Baker

Mount Baker is working on panic button upgrades and facility access as well as implementing a district-wide communication tool, according to superintendent Mary Sewright.

Nooksack Valley

“We are constantly looking to enhance safety and security for students and staff,” superintendent Mark Johnson said.

Johnson said the most notable additions this year are access controls at Sumas Elementary and Nooksack Elementary. The district’s other three schools already had the controls.

“Basically, all exit doors to our schools are locked during the school day. The access point will be at our front entrances, which will be controlled from the office area,” Johnson said. “This system worked well at our first three schools, with the other two coming this fall.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2018 at 5:00 AM.