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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Behavior reporting key to safety

Cameras are nice, but Spokane Public Schools officials are counting on the eyes of students to help prevent a shooting tragedy.

With school shootings in the United States averaging one per week this year, SPS is stressing the importance of students reporting suspicious behavior to resource officers.

“The biggest piece is the relationship the officers make with the kids,” said Mark Sterk, director of safety, risk management and transportation for SPS.

“That’s been our focus with the kids for the last 3 ½ years,” he said. “The closer you are to the kids, they feel they can talk to an officer and share information.”

Those conversations have yielded dozens of red flags, which in turn lead to threat assessments being placed “for kids who act out in violent ways or kids who make threats,” Sterk said.

At that point, SPS sends a district psychologist and special education experts to meet with school officials “to find out if we can resource that kid out in a different way,” Sterk said.

“The last thing we want to do is remove a kid from school,” said Sterk, who added that sometimes a student is shifted to an alternative school.

“Very few kids are not allowed to come back to the district,” he said.

SPS has taken other steps to identify potential dangers as officials have pored through data from studies on active shooters.

The district has employed other preventive measures:

  • During school hours, only the main entrance door is unlocked.
  • Once students are seated in classes, schools are encouraged to ensure that all doors to those rooms are locked.
  • Visitors must use an intercom and be buzzed in by staff, then show identification in order to receive a pass.
  • Security cameras – as many as 200 at some high schools – are monitored.

Sterk said he’s pleased with the progress during the past four years.

“When I talk to my counterparts at other districts, we’re so far ahead of them that it’s quite remarkable,” he said.