Ten years after Columbine, school security stepped up

From the Inquirer.

10 years after Columbine, school security stepped up
By Kristen A. Graham and Bonnie L. Cook, Posted on Sun, Apr. 19, 2009

Some schools have banned backpacks. Others have locked doors, installed cameras, bought metal detectors, and started disaster drills.

Ten years ago tomorrow, two teenagers killed 13 people and wounded 23 others inside Columbine High School in suburban Littleton, Colo., a massacre that forever altered the nation's school-security landscape.

"We used to just worry about drugs and alcohol, but now we're all overwhelmed by this fear that our children aren't safe in schools," said Al Hall, director of security for the Hatboro-Horsham School District.

While some national experts say schools are no safer now than they were a decade ago, educators from around the region point to new efforts to keep students out of harm's way. Among other things, they're training staffers, attending safety conferences, putting cameras on buses, and setting up emergency-notification systems.

Like many regional districts, Hatboro-Horsham has never had tragedy, but it has opted for a proactive approach - just in case. Hall's position is new, and the district also stresses security in small and large ways.

Visitors must now surrender IDs when they enter schools. Emergency plans are updated frequently. Students drill for specific events - a suspicious package found, an intruder inside the building. There's a hotline to report worrisome activity, and reminders for school staff to keep an eye out for troubled students.

"We're constantly monitoring. What are our students drawing in art class? Are they drawing a stick person with a knife stuck in, or are they drawing flowers in a field?" Hall said.

Last week, dozens of school staffers from around Montgomery County gathered in a King of Prussia conference room to hear security expert Kenneth Trump talk about the post-Columbine security landscape and answer questions about lockdown drills, safety fixes on a tight budget, and cyberbullying.

"Some people are dealing with communities that still have the philosophy 'It can't happen here,' " Trump told the educators. "There are glaring gaps, and lots of work remaining."

Just after Columbine, school safety was the hot topic, with awareness at an all-time high and money readily available.

Then came 9/11, and the nation's focus shifted to terrorism, Trump said.

These days, school security is a mixed bag, he said.

Some schools fall short, mostly at keeping safety plans updated and well-practiced, and at investing in training.

It's easy to slip on the basics - failing to enforce a universal ID policy, allowing visitors to enter a building without signing in, leaving a door unlocked by mistake.

Steven Beck, school-safety coordinator with the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety, sees that firsthand.

"At times, I still have to go out and convince school personnel that this is important, that there isn't a guarantee it won't happen in your particular location," Beck said.

But in general, Beck said, school shootings and narrow misses elsewhere have served as wake-up calls.

Locally, in 2006, a multi-student plot was averted in Winslow, and a Springfield Township student killed himself at school with an AK-47.

In 2007, a plot by a home-schooled student to kill people at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School was thwarted, and last year, a student's plan to kill individuals he did not like at Pottstown High also was averted.

Now, there's much better communication among schools and police and fire departments, Beck said.

Students are kept aware of the importance of a safe school environment and warned of tough stances on bullying.

In Radnor, Leo Bernabei, the school district's director of operations, has seen a sea change in the 30 years he's been around.

Gone is the custodian with the overflowing key ring to secure buildings; now, codes are digital. Professional security consultants are hired.

"As a parent, I would say hi to the secretary and walk right to my child's classroom," Bernabei said. "Not anymore. You have to have a background check to go deep in the building."

In Cherry Hill, staff are reminded to be on the lookout for mental-health issues, and students are schooled in stopping bullying before it starts, said Michael Nuzzo, director of security for the district.

New to the district this year is an emergency parent-notification system - should a school be locked down or evacuated, for instance, parents would get the message automatically.

"A lot of school districts are moving in that direction," Nuzzo said. "The mind-set has changed. We know a tragedy can happen any time, any place."

Urban districts have their own set of safety challenges - violence in school communities, huge buildings with dozens of doors - but Columbine still jarred Philadelphia into beefing up security measures.

"And every year, the anniversary of the event is a poignant reminder for us to focus on school safety," said James Golden, who heads that department for the Philadelphia School District.

Before Columbine, the district had metal detectors in some schools.

Afterward, it went to universal metal detection in high schools. With cameras, locked doors, and IDs, it has adopted the same strategies most suburban schools are using, Golden said.

Golden also said the district had sent more than 1,000 administrators and staff to federal emergency-preparedness training.

"They go through training as if they're first responders," he said.

In Washington Township, where voters endorsed a tax hike in 2004 for upgrades to school safety, including cameras for buses and high school hallways, Superintendent Cheryl Simone said safety was "foremost."

"Securing the building, securing the kids, is your number-one job," Simone said. "You have to do that before you can attend to your primary mission, educating kids."

School shootings during the last 10 years also have "upped the ante for the severity of discipline."

Now, zero-tolerance policies mean that a penknife on a key chain or a pair of scissors in a kindergartner's backpack equal an automatic suspension.

"It's a very different perspective," Simone said. "We do take these things seriously, at all grade levels."

Jim White, who handles security for Bristol Township schools, has seen "drastic changes" since Columbine.

From ID badges and surveillance cameras to a portable metal detector and more regular locker checks, it's a new world order, White said, with staff required to be on alert about safety.

"Teachers, the custodial staff, are constantly looking for something out of place," White said. "The guidance counselors are trying to get students to say, 'Hey, this person is a threat.' "

Children are different, too, White said - no longer innocent about the danger that's out there.

And though there was some initial parent pushback on stepped-up security measures, White said, that has faded.

"People appreciate your trying to protect their kids," he said.