Consultant gives CdA schools high marks on safety measures

A sparsely attended school safety forum Tuesday night saw the Coeur d’Alene School District showered with praise by a state consultant hired to assess school safety.

“You really should be quite proud of where you are in terms of security,” said Doug Melvin, president of DACC Associates, a Boise-based security consulting company. “There clearly is an emphasis put on safety and security.”

The forum was one of 15 the company is hosting across Idaho as part of the state Department of Education’s school safety initiative, funded with $150,000 by the 2006 Legislature. The initiative includes school visits. Melvin toured schools in Sandpoint on Monday and Project CDA, Coeur d’Alene High and Ramsey and Borah elementary schools Tuesday. He will visit schools in St. Maries today.

The department plans to submit a final report on the initiative to the Legislature in January, spokeswoman Melissa McGrath said.

“This is to assess how schools look and also to provide recommendation on how schools can improve security,” McGrath said. “Some of them could be really simple changes; others could be major changes.”

A statewide assessment of school safety will give Idaho an edge in applying for federal school safety grants, Melvin said.

“No other state’s doing this,” he said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, district officials called for things such as the ability to lock doors from the inside and for better security measures for portable classrooms.

Other districts have much greater needs, Melvin said.

Suggestions on surveys sent to school administrators and available for the public on the Internet have ranged from metal detectors to “Please don’t turn our schools into a prison,” he said.

Flexibility will be a key part of his company’s recommendations, Melvin said.

Melvin compared good school safety to good student learning: It all comes down to engagement. Are administrators tuned into what’s going on in the hallways and classrooms? In Coeur d’Alene, Melvin said, it’s obvious they are.

“That, unfortunately, is not the case around the state, quite frankly,” he said.

The Coeur d’Alene district uses a computer mapping and school data program that lets school officials and emergency responders access the layout of the school and other information within minutes. Police officers are at each high school, and security cameras cover most of the high school campuses.

“You’d be surprised at how many school districts are really, really behind where you are,” Melvin said. “… I don’t think it’s a lack of willingness. But they’ve had to make difficult choices from a funding standpoint.”

Only two two people not employed by the district attended the forum, parents Debbie Morris and Mary Jo Finney, who have complained about vulgar language and sexually explicit language in required books. Morris said she wants schools to be more proactive about stopping vulgar language.

“We want to see vulgar-free schools,” she said.

Melvin defended the district, saying administrators are among the most engaged he’s seen during his tours.