Published: Thursday, April 22, 2010

By Sydney Holtzclaw
Madison Magazine

Background checks on anyone entering a school was one of the ideas presented last night to the Madison city council and school board by a newly formed task force. The Madison School Safety Task Force gave a preliminary presentation of their findings to the Madison City Council and School Board during a joint meeting.

The Task Force, which was formed in mid-February after the fatal shooting of Discovery Middle School student Todd Brown, is led by retired Army BG Robert Drolet, state school board member Mary Jane Caylor and Huntsville City Administrator Rex Reynolds. The 33-member group has made it their goal to analyze current school policies, research the best practices, and make recommendations to keep Madison city schools safe.

Over the course of the past two months the Task Force has solicited input from a number of sources-school administrators, faculty, students, parents, safe school experts, outside school systems, and law enforcement officers. The task force has also collected feedback from the general public via the "Talk to the Task Force" section of their website.

According to Drolet, he and other members of the Task Force have received numerous emails in addition to the online feedback. "I was very thankful for the constructive emails and online messages we received. These were concerned citizens who wanted to offer us valuable insight," he said.

Drolet said not only were the messages from parents and citizens within the Madison city school system, but also from the County and Huntsville systems. "We're getting a really good feel for the entire community's thoughts, not just Madison."

Following initial observations by each team lead on the various aspects of safety and communication within the school system, Drolet shared the following as some of the initial findings:

• School safety costs should be defined as part of an annual budget to ensure adequate funding for security and School Resource Officer (SRO) staffing. Drolet also said Madison city needs to reallocate SROs and integrate these officers into all aspects of school operation. "You have 2.4 police officers for every 1,000 residents in Madison; I think we should have two SRO officers for every 1,000 students." According to this theory there should be three SRO officers at the middle schools and high school and a minimum of two at the elementary schools.
• There is a need for physical security measures such as communications equipment and camera systems, staff training, and upgraded technology for proper entry control. One option Drolet discussed was having a system to swipe driver's license in order to run a quick background check on anyone who enters the school. "We need to know who and why these visitors are coming into the school," Drolet said.
• Portable classrooms and other areas outside the main school buildings are particularly vulnerable.
• A Supervisor of School Safety and Communications at the district level would greatly enhance all school safety activities.
• A greater level of safety can be achieved through more year-round parental involvement. One of the biggest complaints the Task Force found through their communications was a disappointment in the schools' Parent Teacher Associations. Drolet said, "Time and time again we heard nothing happens at PTA meetings. We need to keep parents involved in the day to day and week to week activities, as well as provide them with behavioral tips and maintain an open line of communication."
• There should be expanded effort to reach out to connect with students, thus ensuring a greater atmosphere of trust and security. Several times throughout the meeting members of the Task Force discussed utilizing a confidential web-based text messaging service for students to inform officials of unusual behaviors from their classmates. "We haven't been able to find a kid that can dial a phone. All they know how to do is text," Drolet said. "So we need to use the technology they grew up with and we've found that if the text can confidential or anonymous students are willing to share more."
• Schools need to provide intervention tips on dealing with behavioral warning signs and expedite communications from parents to schools.

In addition to their preliminary report, the Task Force also announced the availability of a survey on the Madison City website to gather feedback from stakeholders-parents, students, teachers, and residents-of the community. The survey does not require any personal information in order to maintain confidentiality.

The Task Force will also conduct face-to-face interviews with students through the end of April to determine their view on safety and communication within the schools. In order for a child to be interviewed a parent must fill out a consent form online. According to Drolet, these interviews could be group or individual. If a student would like to participate, but is not comfortable with a group setting the Task Force asks for the parent to make note of the situation on the consent form.

Drolet closed by outlining the remaining responsibilities of the task force and a path to the completion of the project.

He said, "Our team will further assess potential risks as well as do more in-depth study on intimidating behavior and ways to mitigate threatening situations for our students. Through our work, we hope to emphasize that we must all find creative ways to teach and encourage positive behavior. It will be the shared responsibility of all the stakeholders of public education to help achieve the recommendations we provide."

Before adjourning the meeting Mayor Paul Finley said, "We are so grateful to the leadership and members of the Task Force for their service to the community. They spent an extraordinary amount of time to evaluate our current situation and make thoughtful, substantive recommendation for improvements. "