Portsmouth school safety committee shows progress

PORTSMOUTH

Betty DiGennaro has a daughter at Wilson High School, where a shooting in 2010 sparked the formation of a Safe Schools Committee. The group held three public forums this year, but DiGennaro says she didn’t know about any of them.

“I may have attended a couple,” she said, even though she’s been pleased with safety at Wilson this year.

School leaders said parents and others were notified by automated calls, but DiGennaro said she never received any.

The forums were quiet events; no one showed up to speak at the first two. At the last event, two parents voiced concerns.

Some school leaders said they believe that’s a sign the public feels the schools are pretty safe.

“I was pleased that we did not get an outpouring in this particular instance,” School Board member Costella Williams said. “If there were a lot of concerns from parents and students, they would have shown.”

The forums were created in the wake of the April 2010 shooting at Wilson High. A suspended student, with the help of a peer, entered the school through a locked door and fired shots inside. No one was injured.

After the incident, School Board member Jim Hewitt called for establishing a group to examine school safety. The result was the Safe Schools Committee, made up of parents, teachers and administrators whom Hewitt led. They set to work on a report of recommendations on safety measures earlier this year and asked the public to provide input. Forums began in February.

Initially, the group relied primarily on word of mouth to advertise the forums. When no one showed up, the events were advertised in the newspaper, on the division’s website and through automated phone calls.

Despite the lack of community input, the committee forged ahead, and last month, Hewitt shared with the School Board a safety report.

Among its recommendations:

- More frequent use of metal detectors in the high schools

- Video monitoring on more of the division’s school buses and increasing “the amount of bus monitors on routes that have known discipline issues.”

- Make the Safe Schools Committee and its public forums a staple offering and include students on the committee.

- Offer safe schools recommendation forms at schools, administrative buildings, School Board meetings and on the division’s website.

Board Chairman James Bridgeford called the report thorough and said the next step is in the administration’s hands. It will determine which recommended actions are already taking place in the schools and which are new, as well as what might be economically feasible to implement.

The administration, Bridgeford said, is expected to answer those questions in the fall.

Cheryl Ross, (757) 446-2443, cheryl.ross@pilotonline.com

SCHOOL SAFETY REPORT