Othello School Board discusses security

OTHELLO — Othello School District officials and Othello Police Department officers detailed some of the measures they’re taking to enhance school security following several recent mass shootings across the country.

Board member Lindsy Prows said the Uvalde, Texas shooting affected her differently than earlier incidents.

“I know I’m not the only parent,” she said. “It’s been a topic of conversations at the baseball field and after graduation, and any time parents are together with their kids. They’re concerned. This last event hit a little bit different. It looked like our community, and maybe that’s why it felt different.”

Othello superintendent Pete Perez said security has been on the minds of school officials nationwide following a May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Amy Parris, director of the district’s school-to-career program, said connecting with students is a critical part of improving school security, something district educators and staff have gotten practice with during the COVID-19 pandemic, Parris said.

“We learned some lessons from COVID about student check-ins,” she said. “So we got really good, the last couple years, with starting every interaction with, ‘How’s it going? What do you need?’ Linking them with resources, that kind of thing.”

Teachers and staff have worked to continue those practices, Parris said.

Othello police sergeant Aaron Garza, one of two school resource officers, said SROs are at school, in part, to make connections with students.

“When we’re (at school), one of our main focuses is building positive relationships with these kids, with the hope of changing the culture around these kids,” Garza said.

Othello Police Chief Phil Schenck said the goal is to make kids comfortable talking to, and coming to, police officers.

“I refer to it as fist-bumping,” Schenck said. “We want to be fist-bumping kids in school, not arresting them.”

The goal is to encourage students to talk to an adult if they have concerns. McFarland Middle School principal Jessica Schenck said the effort put into helping students feel comfortable talking to adults has been valuable. She cited an incident on June 6, where an Othello High School student allegedly made threats against MMS.

“We had a student who was very comfortable coming forward and talking first to an office staff member, and then one of our assistant principals,” she said. “Our goal is to increase that.”

Gregg Fultz, OSD risk manager, said the district conducts drills designed to cover all kinds of emergencies, including active shooters.

Chief Schenck said the way kids and teachers are taught to react to a possible incident at school, and the way law enforcement and emergency personnel have been taught to respond, have changed over time. Currently, OSD teaches students and staff a method called “run, hide, fight.”

“If you can run, run. If you can’t run, hide - to include (a) barricade. That means we just don’t hide in here, we block the door. And if I can’t hide, I fight. But if I’m hiding, I’m preparing to fight,” he said.

Chief Schenck said the district wants to extend the run, hide, fight training to substitute teachers next year.

Officers and district officials also have extensive emergency response training, from tabletop exercises to drills in school buildings, he added.

The district uses multiple tools to identify concerning behaviors, Fultz said, including software that monitors student communication on district-issued computers and notifies school authorities. Campuses also have camera systems, he said.

There are a lot of ideas out there to make schools more secure, but Perez said some may have unintended consequences.

Using devices made to block doors can lock out emergency personnel if the assailant has already entered the classroom, Chief Schenck said.

Metal detectors are a frequent suggestion, Chief Schenck said, but they aren’t always effective.

“Fifty percent of school shooters are past or present students, 50% are not. What that means is, half the people that are a threat to our schools, they’re going to walk right into the metal detector, probably shoot the person standing there and keep on walking, if that’s their intent,” he said. “Some of these school shootings or threats I’ve seen lately, the students actually got past the metal detector with the weapon.”

Allowing staff to carry weapons also has been suggested, but requires extensive training for the armed personnel, he said. He said he was also concerned about losing a weapon to an assailant in a fight.

“When we look at our risk, having SROs and the great security that we have - alert staff, alert students, good relationships - I think those are a better investment,” he said.

Chief Schenck said he would recommend pepper spray as an effective non-lethal weapon.

Perez said district officials are looking at several options to enhance security, including installing electronic door locks and systems where people would have to ring for entry. Hiring additional security personnel is another option under consideration, he said.

District officials also are looking at requiring ID badges.

“It used to be at Othello High School everybody wore an ID,” Perez said. “And there were some safety concepts built into that.”

Other ideas under consideration include reconfiguring offices and adding electronic locks on interior doors, Perez said.

“But really at the bottom of this, it really is about our students and our staff, paying attention, being situationally aware and doing the right thing when they are called upon to do it,” Perez said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.