Schools focus on safety
After a rash of fights, schools here aren't taking any chances
By Dolly A. Butz Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, November 08, 2007
Droves of West High School students rushed down the stairs after fourth period, green and black lanyards hanging from their necks.
Assistant principal Jacque Wyant, who stood at the bottom of the stairs, stopped a girl wearing a white hooded sweatshirt.
"Where's your ID?" Wyant asked.
"Oh, whoops. It's right here," the girl said, pointing to the ID badge dangling from her pocket.
Wyant asked the same of a boy wearing a black collared shirt.
The boy opened his wallet and flashed his ID.
When several fights broke out last year, faculty members and students sought a cultural change at West High. Requiring all students to wear an ID badge is just one of several changes made at the school to curb bad behavior and keep students and faculty safe. The school has also started a freshman mentoring program and transformed a locker bay, once the site of altercations, into a student lounge for juniors and seniors. The changes are transforming attitudes, according to Wyant.
"At least two incidents have been prevented because of student intervention," Wyant said.
Students are also noticing a change.
"Last year, if they were going to fight, they fought," senior Xavier Robles said. "This year I've seen a couple fights students stopped."
Stepping up security
West High isn't the only school in the district trying to make its building safer. Security systems were added to Sioux City elementary schools for the first time this summer.
The system requires visitors to push a button at the front door, alerting the school office. A discreet camera, resembling a small black box, records images of the visitor. From the office, school staffers have the ability to view and speak with the person at the door. They can unlock the door by pushing a button in the office.
"Typically, it's someone we can identify by sight, that it is someone that certainly has business at Longfellow, but we still are very careful about who we allow to come in," said Mary Motz, Longfellow Elementary School principal.
Motz said if someone posing a danger were to enter the school, staff members in the office can push a panic button to alert authorities.
Cynthia Turner, principal at Clark Elementary School, said she feels the security system has added an "extra degree of safety" in her building.
"We're a smaller school, so we can know most of our population that would be coming in," she said. "We really feel that it's a great thing for safety."
Turner said parents learned how the system works at back-to-school night. She said directions are also posted on the door. Overall, Turner said she believes parents are "very thankful" for the additional security measures.
"I think it's a good idea, especially the way society is now," Longfellow parent Jeff Hickey said. "They just want to make sure you're the right person."
Longfellow parent Andrea Waldener said she has never had any problems using the security system and thinks the bulding is safer because of it.
"They know who's coming in and out," Waldener said.
Similar security systems are also in place at the middle schools and high schools. East Middle School principal Tom Peterson said the school has had cameras in place for three years.
Peterson said cameras hold students accountable. Reviewing security camera footage, he said, has helped sort out altercations between students.
"We've been able to see the whole situation as it started," he said. "What happened, who was involved, who was there -- right on the tape."
District Superintendent Larry Williams said the implementation of security systems is not in response to any particular incident. "The reason we made the investment is because it's such a strange world now that we didn't feel that we could afford to not have this extra precaution," he said.
In the event of an emergency
Being prepared in the event of an emergency, such as a school shooting, is a priority for Sioux City educators and administrators in the post-Columbine world.
Mary O'Hern, district benefits insurance and safety manager, said the district regularly enacts emergency drills, and schools practice going to alternate sites. Five years ago, O'Hern said, students, teachers and the Sioux City Police Department staged a drill in which a noncustodial parent showed up at school with a gun. A few years later, she said, they staged an explosion at one of the schools.
"We try to make it as realistic as possible," she said.
O'Hern said the district's security plan is "pretty solid." When an incident occurs, such as the Virginia Tech massacre last April, in which 32 people were killed and many more wounded, O'Hern said the district reviews its plan to see if any changes need to be made. Each school has its own emergency plan based on its building.
North High school was forced to put its security plan into action when officials received a call about a freshman boy making a gun threat last month. For a half-hour the school was locked down.
"I don't think we felt that the threat was imminent," North High School principal Linda Smoley recalled. "We called the police immediately. They went looking for the student immediately. We didn't go to the extent we might have gone, had we been told that a student in the building had a gun."
Smoley said teachers locked their doors and students stayed in the classrooms. Footage from security cameras was also reviewed and backpacks of students arriving late were checked to make sure nothing unwanted was coming into the building. The lockdown was called off when the student was found at a grandparent's Sioux City home.
"We'll take the precautions even though they may seem sometimes that they're being extreme," Smoley said. "I don't think you can ever take too much of a precaution when the safety of kids is involved."
A few weeks after the gun threat at North High, an East High School freshman was suspended for two weeks for writing a story that describes the shooting deaths of 35 classmates and faculty members. The boy's teacher had assigned the class to read Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game" and then write a story using Connell's story as a model. Connell's story is about a hunter who becomes bored with shooting animals and begins hunting humans.
After holding intermediate hearings, the district determined that the boy did not pose a continued threat, and he returned to school.
"School officials are all the more careful about being sure that they've done their due diligence to check episodes of this sort to be sure that there is a minimal risk of danger to other youngsters," Williams said.
Teaching responsibility
Student ID badges are more than just a way for West High faculty members to identify who belongs in the building and who does not. The badges are also a pass for students to participate in certain privileges they have earned. West High students who earn their credits and display good behavior are rewarded with such privileges as early dismissal and extended lunchtime.
"As you get older, you get more," Wyant said. "We continue to explore because it's a new program. Right now, freshmen have no privileges, so we are working at finding an activity for freshmen who have been good."
The ID badges contain students' name, grade, counselor and privileges. A schedule on the back lets staffers know where the student is supposed to be at all times. Like textbooks, the badges are school property. If they are lost or damaged, the student is responsible. The first replacement is free. A student who can't afford to replace a second lost badge is allowed to do community service in the building to pay for it.
"I like our IDs," said sophomore Garrit Schafer. "It's like responsibility."
Sophomore Dalton Block admitted he isn't fond of wearing an ID badge but looks forward to earning more privileges.
"I don't like them, but I think they help out a lot," he said.
North High School students are also wearing ID badges, and East High School will implement them for second semester.
Smoley said some North High School students occasionally forget their badges or stuff them in their pockets, but she said the IDs are benefiting the faculty and students alike.
"It really helps our teachers," she said. "It helps all of us to know whom we're addressing in the hall. With 1,500 students, the teachers can't just know everybody."
Assistant principal Jacque Wyant, who stood at the bottom of the stairs, stopped a girl wearing a white hooded sweatshirt.
"Where's your ID?" Wyant asked.
"Oh, whoops. It's right here," the girl said, pointing to the ID badge dangling from her pocket.
Wyant asked the same of a boy wearing a black collared shirt.
The boy opened his wallet and flashed his ID.
When several fights broke out last year, faculty members and students sought a cultural change at West High. Requiring all students to wear an ID badge is just one of several changes made at the school to curb bad behavior and keep students and faculty safe. The school has also started a freshman mentoring program and transformed a locker bay, once the site of altercations, into a student lounge for juniors and seniors. The changes are transforming attitudes, according to Wyant.
"At least two incidents have been prevented because of student intervention," Wyant said.
Students are also noticing a change.
"Last year, if they were going to fight, they fought," senior Xavier Robles said. "This year I've seen a couple fights students stopped."
Stepping up security
West High isn't the only school in the district trying to make its building safer. Security systems were added to Sioux City elementary schools for the first time this summer.
The system requires visitors to push a button at the front door, alerting the school office. A discreet camera, resembling a small black box, records images of the visitor. From the office, school staffers have the ability to view and speak with the person at the door. They can unlock the door by pushing a button in the office.
"Typically, it's someone we can identify by sight, that it is someone that certainly has business at Longfellow, but we still are very careful about who we allow to come in," said Mary Motz, Longfellow Elementary School principal.
Motz said if someone posing a danger were to enter the school, staff members in the office can push a panic button to alert authorities.
Cynthia Turner, principal at Clark Elementary School, said she feels the security system has added an "extra degree of safety" in her building.
"We're a smaller school, so we can know most of our population that would be coming in," she said. "We really feel that it's a great thing for safety."
Turner said parents learned how the system works at back-to-school night. She said directions are also posted on the door. Overall, Turner said she believes parents are "very thankful" for the additional security measures.
"I think it's a good idea, especially the way society is now," Longfellow parent Jeff Hickey said. "They just want to make sure you're the right person."
Longfellow parent Andrea Waldener said she has never had any problems using the security system and thinks the bulding is safer because of it.
"They know who's coming in and out," Waldener said.
Similar security systems are also in place at the middle schools and high schools. East Middle School principal Tom Peterson said the school has had cameras in place for three years.
Peterson said cameras hold students accountable. Reviewing security camera footage, he said, has helped sort out altercations between students.
"We've been able to see the whole situation as it started," he said. "What happened, who was involved, who was there -- right on the tape."
District Superintendent Larry Williams said the implementation of security systems is not in response to any particular incident. "The reason we made the investment is because it's such a strange world now that we didn't feel that we could afford to not have this extra precaution," he said.
In the event of an emergency
Being prepared in the event of an emergency, such as a school shooting, is a priority for Sioux City educators and administrators in the post-Columbine world.
Mary O'Hern, district benefits insurance and safety manager, said the district regularly enacts emergency drills, and schools practice going to alternate sites. Five years ago, O'Hern said, students, teachers and the Sioux City Police Department staged a drill in which a noncustodial parent showed up at school with a gun. A few years later, she said, they staged an explosion at one of the schools.
"We try to make it as realistic as possible," she said.
O'Hern said the district's security plan is "pretty solid." When an incident occurs, such as the Virginia Tech massacre last April, in which 32 people were killed and many more wounded, O'Hern said the district reviews its plan to see if any changes need to be made. Each school has its own emergency plan based on its building.
North High school was forced to put its security plan into action when officials received a call about a freshman boy making a gun threat last month. For a half-hour the school was locked down.
"I don't think we felt that the threat was imminent," North High School principal Linda Smoley recalled. "We called the police immediately. They went looking for the student immediately. We didn't go to the extent we might have gone, had we been told that a student in the building had a gun."
Smoley said teachers locked their doors and students stayed in the classrooms. Footage from security cameras was also reviewed and backpacks of students arriving late were checked to make sure nothing unwanted was coming into the building. The lockdown was called off when the student was found at a grandparent's Sioux City home.
"We'll take the precautions even though they may seem sometimes that they're being extreme," Smoley said. "I don't think you can ever take too much of a precaution when the safety of kids is involved."
A few weeks after the gun threat at North High, an East High School freshman was suspended for two weeks for writing a story that describes the shooting deaths of 35 classmates and faculty members. The boy's teacher had assigned the class to read Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game" and then write a story using Connell's story as a model. Connell's story is about a hunter who becomes bored with shooting animals and begins hunting humans.
After holding intermediate hearings, the district determined that the boy did not pose a continued threat, and he returned to school.
"School officials are all the more careful about being sure that they've done their due diligence to check episodes of this sort to be sure that there is a minimal risk of danger to other youngsters," Williams said.
Teaching responsibility
Student ID badges are more than just a way for West High faculty members to identify who belongs in the building and who does not. The badges are also a pass for students to participate in certain privileges they have earned. West High students who earn their credits and display good behavior are rewarded with such privileges as early dismissal and extended lunchtime.
"As you get older, you get more," Wyant said. "We continue to explore because it's a new program. Right now, freshmen have no privileges, so we are working at finding an activity for freshmen who have been good."
The ID badges contain students' name, grade, counselor and privileges. A schedule on the back lets staffers know where the student is supposed to be at all times. Like textbooks, the badges are school property. If they are lost or damaged, the student is responsible. The first replacement is free. A student who can't afford to replace a second lost badge is allowed to do community service in the building to pay for it.
"I like our IDs," said sophomore Garrit Schafer. "It's like responsibility."
Sophomore Dalton Block admitted he isn't fond of wearing an ID badge but looks forward to earning more privileges.
"I don't like them, but I think they help out a lot," he said.
North High School students are also wearing ID badges, and East High School will implement them for second semester.
Smoley said some North High School students occasionally forget their badges or stuff them in their pockets, but she said the IDs are benefiting the faculty and students alike.
"It really helps our teachers," she said. "It helps all of us to know whom we're addressing in the hall. With 1,500 students, the teachers can't just know everybody."
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 7 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
Interesting wrote on Nov 11, 2007 8:01 AM:
id badges arnt all that good wrote on Nov 9, 2007 2:55 PM:
Patrick wrote on Nov 9, 2007 6:28 AM:
A parent wrote on Nov 8, 2007 8:57 PM:
really ID badges good wrote on Nov 8, 2007 4:47 PM: