Safe and Secure
Jun 1, 2010 12:00 PM, By Mike Kennedy
Managing growing security concerns under current budget strains.
In the aftermath of the 2007 shooting deaths at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va., the university has made improvements to prevent future tragedies. Photo courtesy of John McCormick
The education headlines have been filled with grim news about facility closings, teacher layoffs and program cutbacks. When the economic climate is gloomy, few areas of schools and universities are spared. In areas outside the classroom, such as safety and security, the cuts may be larger and come more quickly. Yet, the need to provide a safe environment for students, staff and visitors to education institutions has not diminished. For most administrators responsible for campus security, the deadly violence that descended on Columbine High School or Virginia Tech is never far from their thoughts. Lack of funding won’t be an acceptable excuse if security lapses lead to tragedy. When money is scarce, education administrators seeking to maintain or improve campus security may be able to receive grants or donations to carry out their plans, or look for ways to enhance the safety of students that can be carried out without tapping resources needed elsewhere. To address the street violence that has led to the deaths of many Chicago Public Schools students, the city is using $30 million in federal stimulus funds to establish a program aimed at creating "cultures of calm" at 38 high schools. The program will focus on improving attendance, conduct and academic performance. Last month, Chicago Schools CEO Ron Huberman announced that at six pilot high schools that are part of the program—Farragut, Robeson, Harlan, Julian, Clemente and Manley—third-quarter statistics show that attendance is up, serious behavior problems are down, and the number of students with Ds and Fs has fallen. Another aspect of the system’s security initiative is a "Safe Passage" program to help high school students in more than 20 high-crime communities get to and from school without falling prey to neighborhood violence. The district is looking to "create a network of providers who can function collectively as a School Community Watch," says Huberman. The district chose the schools after reviewing such factors as the number of violent incidents during arrival and dismissal times, the prevalence of gangs, and the number of aggravated batteries with a firearm within the school’s police district. Another element of the security push is the creation of a mentor program for 3,000 students determined to be among the most at-risk for being victims of violence. The anti-violence initiatives have two goals, the district says: reducing the likelihood that at-risk students will engage in, or become victims of, violence; and creating a safe and supportive environment for students to improve attendance and excel academically. Chicago also is using corporate donations to bolster its security. The banking company Chase donated $2.25 million to the school system in December to install 90 security cameras at 40 city high schools. The cameras will send live video feeds to the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications Center. In the aftermath of the 2007 shooting deaths at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, many schools and universities have re-examined their security procedures and systems, and taken steps to provide safer campuses. Virginia Tech itself has made numerous improvements to prevent a recurrence of such a tragedy. More than three years later, the university and federal education officials still are reviewing what happened at Virginia Tech and how university officials responded. Seung Hui Cho, a Virginia Tech student, shot two students to death in a residence hall on the morning of April 16, 2007. Less than three hours later, Cho opened fire in an academic building. He killed five professors and 25 students and wounded many others before taking his own life. A preliminary report sent earlier this year from the U.S. Department of Education to Virginia Tech asserted that the university violated the federal Clery Act in 2007 by failing to issue a timely warning about the first deadly shooting at the residence hall. Virginia Tech officials have issued a 73-page response that disputes the education department’s preliminary conclusions. "It is inconsistent with the regulatory process to hold Virginia Tech to standards that did not exist at the time, or … to hold Virginia Tech to a new Clery Act standard that was developed after—and in response to—the tragic events that occurred on our campus," Virginia Tech emergency management director Michael Mulhare says in the university’s response. In its response, the university also spells out the equipment upgrades, facility alterations and policy changes it has made to prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy, as well as prevent or mitigate less catastrophic crises. Among them: Culture of calm
Responding to tragedy
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