Changes in security measures being taken by the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. will be shared with the community through a video that will be released before school begins Aug. 8.
The video will be created to highlight changes students, parents and visitors can expect to see. It will be posted on the district’s Facebook page and website, BCSC Superintendent Jim Roberts said.
Roberts provided an update during Monday’s school board meeting about safety and security measures being implemented at district buildings starting this fall. Roberts told the board that the district is working on changes of building entrances, without providing specific details.
The district’s security measures and plans were discussed with the school board in an executive session prior to Monday’s meeting, and Roberts said another executive session on the same topics is scheduled to occur before school begins.
The district has ordered free, hand-held metal detectors being offered by the state through a new program announced last week that would make them available to schools. One hand-held metal detector would be available for every 250 students in public, charter and accredited private schools by request.
The state plans to deliver the handheld devices in mid-August. Based on the district’s overall student population, it expects to receive more than 40 of the metal detectors.
But Roberts stressed that the district is still evaluating how and where they will be used.
“We are not looking to have all of our students being wanded into school each day,” Roberts said. “We are not looking to make this a routine part of the school day.”
Columbus resident Kermet Merl Key, whose son will be a junior at Columbus East High School and recently had a daughter graduate, addressed the board.
Key, who also has a 3-year-old son, said he supports having the metal detectors used across the district to ensure that people are protected, especially after shooting incidents in Parkland, Florida, and more recently in Noblesville.
“I would like to see metal detectors at every door, at every school,” Key said.
The use of metal detectors was also advocated by Christopher Rutan, coordinator of the Ninth Street Neighborhood Watch, who also addressed the board. Rutan commended the board for looking out for children in the district, but said child safety is a must and urged them to be proactive.
“I’m imploring you to make everybody feel safe,” Rutan said.
Key said after the meeting he thinks access to schools is too simple.
“We’re gambling with our kids’ lives everyday,” he said.
Roberts said the district is in the midst of developing a specific plan involving the metal detectors and forthcoming security measures people might expect to see. However, he declined to reveal what that involves except to say further information would be released through the video.
“The manner in which you access (a building) might be different,” Roberts said. “We will lay all that out by the beginning of school.”
Other security measures being taken by the district will be less noticeable, he said.
“There are things we are doing you will not see,” he said.
The district hired Facility Engineering Associates, based in Washington, D.C., in May to perform an audit at Schmitt Elementary School and Columbus North High School to assess school security. That evaluation was done at no cost to the district.
BCSC is also working to identify students with mental health needs through its Counseling Counts program, said Doug Moore, systems coordinator and a retired director of guidance counseling at Columbus East.
The district received $1.1 million from the Lilly Endowment last year to help students who are dealing with drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal thoughts, homelessness and other issues. The program is a two-tiered approach in collaboration with community partners such as Centerstone and Family Services Inc., Moore said.
Moore added that BCSC is adding mental health therapists to its school buildings through 2021 and is working with two graduate interns from IUPUC, who will be working with Centerstone and Family Services Inc. Part of the focus through the program is to allow school counselors to do more counseling work and less administrative duties, he said.
“The whole idea here is a community-based approach,” Moore said.
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The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has hired about 60 new employees for the 2018-2019 school year. More could be added before school begins, said Teresa Heiny, assistant superintendent for human resources.
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“We are not looking to have all of our students being wanded into school each day.”
— BCSC Superintendent Jim Roberts on hand-held metal detectors
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