How two rural mid-Missouri schools are trying to keep their student’s safe
It has been 20 years since the Columbine shooting and schools are still trying to figure out how to keep students safe inside their buildings.
Having a tight budget makes this an even more daunting task.
Two rural mid-Missouri school districts are allocating their budgets in different ways to try and maintain safe environments in their buildings.
Iberia School District chose to send its teachers to active shooter training last year. They have also amped up the amount of security technology in their buildings.
Iberia Superintendent Lyndel Whittel said they’re slowly chipping away at costs, with money from their reserves and operating budget. He has even bigger aspirations for security measures, but doesn’t know if he can find the funds.
“Something I’m dreaming about doing…it’s going to cost about $30,000, they make a metal detector now that takes out cylindrical objects,” he said. “And will send an alert to whoever’s been designated to receive it. But it’s a hefty budget project.”
About 30 minutes away, Eldon School District is implementing its own multi-layered plan for the well-being of the school, but it does not include high-tech security measures.
The Eldon administration has given therapists their own office space in the school in hopes of tackling underlying issues in students early on.
Angela Ross, a high school therapist at Eldon, said that building a foundation of communication is an effective way of not only ensuring the safety of the student, but also the safety of the school.
“I’d much rather be proactive about it rather than reactive,” she said. “I think oftentimes, once you have a school shooting or some kind of violence and the news media and everyone starts digging into these kids’ lives, you will often find an underlying mental health issue.”
Monica Fitzgerald, a clinical psychologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder said before either strategy can work, communication among all levels of the school is key.
“Help young people increase their comfort in sharing information,” she said. “Have effective information gathering systems in the school so that kids feel comfortable.”
Fitzgerald said the next step is making sure teachers also have access to mental health resources to ensure they can connect with their students.