Since the horrific act that took 17 precious lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday, many parents and other community members have reached out to ask what we are doing in Anne Arundel County Public Schools to help ensure the safety of our more than 82,000 students and more than 10,000 employees.
No school or school system can guarantee 100 percent safety of students and staff 100 percent of the time.
That said, I am proud of the lengths to which our school system goes to take precautions and increase awareness of surroundings in our schools system’s more than 13 million square feet of real estate. Safety and security is our No. 1 concern.
Our staff and students regularly take part in drills to familiarize them with the safest procedures for emergencies. These drills focus on a variety of topics. The most recent, conducted over the last several weeks, centered on an armed intruder in a building.
All of our buildings have audiovisual systems that require visitors, when they arrive at the exterior door, to alert a staff member to their presence. Visitors should expect to be asked about the purpose of their visit before being granted entry. Once inside, visitors must provide a government-issued ID card to be scanned through a system that checks the name against national and state sex-offender databases.
Our newer schools have “double door” entrances at which visitors go through an exterior door, then must go directly to the office or interact with a staff member before being granted access to rest of the building. Schools under construction or renovation now will all have this feature.
Check-in procedures at schools mean that it takes a little longer to enter a building. But this is necessary. Also necessary, though sometimes counterintuitive, is that visitors should not hold doors open for those coming behind them. While we encourage our students, parents and staff to be nice to each other, it’s imperative everyone go through the same check-in procedures.
Our partnership with the Anne Arundel County, City of Annapolis and Fort George G. Meade police departments has paid tremendous dividends over the years. School resource officers provide a regular presence in our buildings and allow us to access law enforcement resources far more quickly. The partnerships with all three police departments – and the communication between officers and school staff – have quickly addressed and prevented issues at all of our schools.
Our schools are all equipped with camera systems accessible not only by our Office of School Security but by police. We continually re-evaluate access controls such as fencing and keyless entry.
We collaborate with police on professional development for staff and training exercises that reinforce and improve our safety procedures. We discuss the prevention of school violence with school systems around the nation. We are also in regular contact with the Maryland Center for School Safety.
The top-quality mental health practitioners in our Division of Student Support Services provide critical assessment and referral services to students and adults in our county. We maintain a 24/7 Student Safety Hotline: 877-676-9854.
Every school in our county has an emergency plan, vetted and approved by our Office of School Security, providing guidelines for crisis response and prevention.
Many other aspects of our overall security program are not seen by the general public but go a long way toward making our buildings secure. We are not at liberty to discuss them because they involve information we don’t want potential perpetrators to know.
Not a day goes by in our school system in which the issue of school safety is not discussed. We are constantly looking for ways to bolster the security in our buildings and take advantage of new technology to create even safer environments for our students and staff.
For all that technology has to offer, however, our greatest asset is you. Alert and attentive students, parents, staff members and others provide the greatest information we could receive when it comes to issues that may be brewing in our communities or schools. I implore you to continue those conversations at home, in your workplace and in our schools.
We cannot know everything, and we depend on you to partner with us. If you see or hear something, say something.
