Quincy schools take a close look at security

QUINCY — Presentations for Quincy School District parents and secondary students on what to do in the case of a shooter at school are scheduled for March 27 and 28. Jesus Villahermosa, a nationally recognized expert, will talk to students March 27 and parents and district patrons March 28.

Villahermosa has made previous presentations in Quincy, and QSD Assistant Superintendent DJ Garza said Villahermosa has been a consultant on the district’s security plan. Garza reviewed the plan for the Quincy School Board on Feb. 13. 

Times have changed, Garza said, and so has the response from school officials when something happens, even if it seems like a minor incident. 

“Whenever a student makes a threat, it’s not looked at as joking anymore,” he said. 

In the past, a fight between a pair of fifth graders might not be as closely scrutinized, Garza said.

“We take it seriously, and we have to go through this process of a threat assessment. It’s a formal procedure, and it determines the level of threat,” he said.

If the assessment determines there’s a low probability of anything happening, the investigation is closed, but there is a record in the case of recurring problems.

“So it’s really important to (assess) every single one,” Garza said. “It’s really hard when you have a young kid, second or third grade, who says something inappropriate, and 90% of the time, it comes out as nothing. But it’s difficult, having that conversation with parents, saying we have to take this seriously.”

Social media has had both good and bad effects, Garza said, and social media channels are monitored for possible security risks.

“If there is a threat it gets reported immediately,” he said. 

District officials try to ensure troublesome social media posts don’t stay in circulation.

“If it is posted, what we like to do is go through and remove it,” he said. “They actually can hide that (post), so it’s not widespread and causing panic through the system.”

The Quincy Police Department can and does trace the origin of threats made via social media. 

“So it’s not completely anonymous. They do get caught,” Garza said.

Security measures have changed as times have changed. Quincy has single entries for all schools, and visitors must be admitted. The district’s maintenance staff does periodic checks, since multiple people are going in and out of multiple doors throughout the school day.

“(Maintenance staff) do a walkthrough and they give a report to every building, checking if doors are locked,” Garza said. “(District administrators) take that report, we analyze it, and then we do our own walkthroughs at every building.” 

The district has established a team whose focus is school security and response in case of emergencies. Garza said the group did an exercise recently, looking at the response in the case of a bus collision. 

“(A bus collision) is one of the highest risks,” Garza said. “I know we all talk about school shooters, but a bus accident is actually more likely.” 

Part of the security plan is keeping trouble out of school, and that is easier with a good working relationship with the QPD. Officers Abraham Guzman and Jessica Diaz work as school resource officers; Diaz was added at the start of the current school year. 

“They have been really key in trying to de-escalate situations at the high school,” Garza said. “They’ve been involved in some incidents where we needed law enforcement there to make an arrest. They’ve done calls that are off duty that call them back to the campus.”

District officials meet regularly with the QPD, he said.

“We meet monthly and just go over what’s happening in our city. We don’t just go over school issues - depending on what’s happening in the city, it kind of filters into the school,” Garza said. “So if there’s an uptick in graffiti, we can hear about it, we can connect with them and see what’s going on.”

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