Published: April 16, 2008 11:16 pm         

Educators confront school safety head on

33rd annual School and College Law Conference deals with security issues, interventions

TERRE HAUTE — Imagine: a first-grader who conspires with others to kill a classmate; a convicted sex offender who comes onto school property to pick up his child; or a disgruntled high-school student who comes to school with a semi-automatic weapon, planning to kill himself and others.

These actual scenarios, among others, were considered Wednesday during the 33rd annual School and College Law Conference at Indiana State University.

The theme for this year was “School Safety & Security: Issues, Interventions, and Best Practices.”

On the anniversary of the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States, in which 32 people died at Virginia Tech in 2007, nearly 150 educators and school safety specialists came together to discuss some of the frightening realities – and the laws that govern them – during the conference.

During introductory remarks, the chairman of ISU’s Educational Leadership Department, Josh Powers, noted, “For most of us in this room, school safety and security when we were in school perhaps meant having a first aid kit on-site, a school nurse available to attend to a child’s skinned knee, fire drills and maybe locking the doors at night.”

Powers added that Hoosiers might remember tornado drills, and some will remember hiding under desks during drills anticipating a nuclear blast.

“Looking back on those days almost seems blissful compared to what we face in our schools in 2008,” Powers said, adding that today, students, teachers and administrators confront the need for metal detectors, security guards and “elaborate sign-in and sign-out mechanisms.”

Keynote speaker David Emmert, general counsel for the Indiana School Board Association and author of “Leading Schools Legally,” offered highlights of some of the more recent – as well as some of the earliest – case law regarding school safety and security.

The program offered sessions including “Active Shooters: Who Are They?”, “A National Study of the Subjective Experience of Bullying and Being Bullied” and “The Changing Face of School and Campus Security,” among others.

Powers said, “Our schools should be havens for learning … [but] such a perspective is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve.

“What are school and district leaders to do within the parameters of the law to ensure that the best possible learning environment is fostered?”

Though the morning session left many audience members shaking their heads about the kinds of problems within schools, Powers left them with a positive note.

“Despite the real safety and security concerns that exist,” he said, “good things can and do happen in our schools.”

Deb Kelly can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or deb.kelly@tribstar.com.