BERLIN– School system officials say student safety remains their number one priority in the wake of the tragedy in Nashville.
With the school shooting that occurred in Nashville on March 27 on the minds of many, Worcester County Public Schools officials said this week that ongoing efforts to review safety practices and make improvements to security measures remain at the forefront.
“Certainly in the wake of the national tragedy our thoughts go in to how strong our school safety plans are and making us take a close look at the policies we have in place,” said Annette Wallace, the school system’s chief safety and academic officer for grades 9-12.
Last fall, Wallace re-formed the school safety committee initially created after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. In the months since, two subcommittees have been created—one to study the possibility of implementing weapons detection systems in schools and one to focus on communication. Wallace said the weapons detection system subgroup, which features representation from the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, has been reviewing the various types of systems and will be traveling to Dorchester County to look at systems in place there.
The communication subgroup is reviewing messaging practices and looking for ways to improve notification to the community and parents when issues arise.
“Making sure our policies are the best they can be continues to be at the forefront of our minds,” she said.
Wallace added that working with law enforcement, particularly the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, is a key aspect of school safety. The department has school resource officers in each of the county’s public schools.
“The Nashville shooting, it’s an absolute tragedy,” Sheriff Matt Crisafulli said. “It’s horrific to see these things occurring. That’s why as sheriff I feel it’s important we continue to have school deputies and law enforcement stationed at our schools.”
Those officers go through active assailant training yearly. Crisafulli said they’re also selected for the roles based on their experience.
“I can’t hire a recruit and immediately put them into a school,” he said, adding that school resource officers needed to have at least two years of road work and time to become familiar with the department’s policies, procedures and serving the public.
While deputies are in place at each school, Crisafulli’s department is down six officers. He’s struggling with the same recruitment issues agencies are experiencing nationwide. As a result, he doesn’t always have the staff for deputies to cover afterschool programs.
“The afterschool academies are contingent on staffing,” he said. “Most of these events are filled with overtime. We’d love to have them all staffed but it’s up to available staff.”
The shortage of officers will also make staffing private schools a challenge.
“We’ve already been in discussions with one school,” he said. “We anticipate that other schools might reach out.”
He believes deputies should be in all schools, public or private.
“As sheriff of this county, I think it’s important we have a deputy in every school but in the private schools it’s contingent on the schools working through our county commissioners on the funding source,” he said.
In an attempt to improve recruitment and retention, Crisafulli said his proposed budget for the coming year includes funding for a 10% pay increase across the board. Currently, the starting salary for an officer in his department is roughly $49,000.
He said the pay increase wouldn’t solve the staffing issue but it should help.
“The county commissioners, they have been very supportive of my office,” he said. “We’re working together to find a solution. I respect they’re up against some challenges. As sheriff of this county I think it’s important for people to know that good quality public safety is costly.”
