Last in a series
Re “LaRose Looks at Students’ Roles in Upgrading Student Safety”
Throughout the weeks’ long discussions about ways the School District can improve safety methods at every site, Supt. Dave LaRose, known for talking about education the “whole child,” has been equally emphatic about the way whole families can/should participate.
“Families play a key role, and rightly so,” Mr. LaRose said.
“One of the most common themes (in school safety) is campus access, recognizing that we have sign-in and sign-out procedures, and how you check your child in and check your child out, making sure it is during times when we have supervision.
“Do you sign in? Do you get a visitor’s badge?
“Sometimes, it can be an inconvenience. People will say, ‘Oh, you see me here all the time. You must recognize me.’
“We can all play a key role in insuring that safety and access and visibility exist at all times on the campus.
“Children will know who should be there and who shouldn’t be there. Parents can play an important role in carrying that out.”
Question: Have the methods of campus access been substantially changed?
“There always have been the procedures I just cited.
“What is different is this: I would expect our insistence that now they be adhered to, I hope, brings comfort to everyone.”
How you gauge the communal response of parents in the weeks since Newtown – stronger than you would have expected? Lighter?
“I thought it was appropriate, appropriate in what you heard about legitimate concerns. It was not from one extreme, passive indifference, all the way to demands and expectations.
“It was more inquisitive and questions, bringing up issues someone had been concerned about but had not talked about.
“Early on, the focus was on ‘Help us better understand what you already do, and I really need to know.’ Then the questions were ‘What are your plans?’
“A lot of our early acknowledgement was about just how unfathomable The Event was. Then, because it was so prevalent in the news, ‘How do we communicate with our children?’
“We have had some interest in ‘How do I get involved?’
“That is one of the things we are looking at, meaningful involvement. We have done this regarding safety and security on campuses in my past. We had a real active program called Watch-DOGS, Dads of Great Students. It was a way to engage males at school sites, ways of being visible during dropoff time, during recess, at lunch, in the playroom, having radios. The idea was more eyes and ears on the campuses. These are the kinds of strategies we are looking for.”
