MONROE - Security measures are a topic Monroe District Administrator Rick Waski and staff consider constantly, whether the news of a mass shooting at a public school has just broken or teachers and students are conducting everyday activities within the district on an ordinary day.
"This is on our minds all the time," Waski said. "We're always thinking about how we address the unthinkable. We try to be as safe as possible."
Which means while 17 people were reported dead at a high school in Florida on Valentine's Day after a mass shooting, the methods of keeping its students safe did not change per the School District of Monroe.
The city of Parkland, Florida, has more than 31,500 estimated residents according to the 2016 United States census and is home to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, with roughly 3,000 students enrolled. A week ago, a 19-year-old man who had been expelled from the district returned with a legally purchased semiautomatic rifle and committed 17 acts deemed by authorities as premeditated murder. Nikolas Cruz had entered a stairwell, even after being recognized by a staff member who knew he didn't belong.
Threats to schools are nothing new for Waski, who has been in education for more than two decades.
Ways to ensure the safety of students have been improved on over the years at Monroe. In 2016, a $450,000 referendum helped the district install card readers for teachers to use throughout the day making entrances safer. Phones were updated to monitor calls coming in and going out of school buildings. Whenever 911 is dialed, Waski and other directors within the district are notified via texts and emails. Bollards, steel posts roughly three feet high used to prevent car ramming attacks, were installed at the entrance of each school. There is video surveillance used in each school as well as the district office at Monroe Public Library.
Still, he noted things could be improved. But finding the money to update decades-old buildings has been difficult, and identifying the problems has been an ongoing endeavor.
"We would like to eventually get to what's called a secure entrance at all of our buildings," Waski said. "The problem with that is that none of our buildings were designed that way."
Namely, he said the high school building and Abraham Lincoln Elementary require substantial relocation of some of the walls of the buildings to ensure all traffic goes through the offices rather than into an open hallway. And while automatic locks would be ideal on every door, some are simply too old to be fitted with the equipment, which would require expensive replacements. "Not that it's not important," Waski said, but funding the improvements does provide an obstacle.
While a facilities study of the district has begun and the District Facilities Committee continues to consider maintenance and security needs, Waski said the district has not yet decided whether another referendum would be needed. The committee is meeting tonight at 5:30 p.m. at Parkside Elementary School for a tour to be made aware of issues within the building. The meeting is one of several to identify problems within each district building.
"The reality is that our newest building was built in the mid-80s, and as buildings age, repairs are going to come up that need to be done," Waski said.
Policy dictates all doors be locked during the school day, but when high school students leave for lunch every day, doors are unlocked. Though Waski said staff are put in place to monitor the doors, it does cause a lapse in the rules.
Noting concerns from parents in the recent week, he said there are few options for preventing students from opening a door from the inside to allow someone else to enter. However, while Waski said he knows of mechanisms for an alarm to sound if that happened, he said there would again be an expense and that mistakes could cause the light and sound to go off. And though staff regularly inform building principals and vice principals of security concerns, even evaluating those staff on whether doors are secured, missteps can be made.
"We do the best we can to reduce human error or structural error," Waski said, noting wind or not-quite-secured latches can cause problems. "We have a very caring and dedicated staff that will do anything to keep our students safe."
"This is on our minds all the time," Waski said. "We're always thinking about how we address the unthinkable. We try to be as safe as possible."
Which means while 17 people were reported dead at a high school in Florida on Valentine's Day after a mass shooting, the methods of keeping its students safe did not change per the School District of Monroe.
The city of Parkland, Florida, has more than 31,500 estimated residents according to the 2016 United States census and is home to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, with roughly 3,000 students enrolled. A week ago, a 19-year-old man who had been expelled from the district returned with a legally purchased semiautomatic rifle and committed 17 acts deemed by authorities as premeditated murder. Nikolas Cruz had entered a stairwell, even after being recognized by a staff member who knew he didn't belong.
Threats to schools are nothing new for Waski, who has been in education for more than two decades.
Ways to ensure the safety of students have been improved on over the years at Monroe. In 2016, a $450,000 referendum helped the district install card readers for teachers to use throughout the day making entrances safer. Phones were updated to monitor calls coming in and going out of school buildings. Whenever 911 is dialed, Waski and other directors within the district are notified via texts and emails. Bollards, steel posts roughly three feet high used to prevent car ramming attacks, were installed at the entrance of each school. There is video surveillance used in each school as well as the district office at Monroe Public Library.
Still, he noted things could be improved. But finding the money to update decades-old buildings has been difficult, and identifying the problems has been an ongoing endeavor.
"We would like to eventually get to what's called a secure entrance at all of our buildings," Waski said. "The problem with that is that none of our buildings were designed that way."
Namely, he said the high school building and Abraham Lincoln Elementary require substantial relocation of some of the walls of the buildings to ensure all traffic goes through the offices rather than into an open hallway. And while automatic locks would be ideal on every door, some are simply too old to be fitted with the equipment, which would require expensive replacements. "Not that it's not important," Waski said, but funding the improvements does provide an obstacle.
While a facilities study of the district has begun and the District Facilities Committee continues to consider maintenance and security needs, Waski said the district has not yet decided whether another referendum would be needed. The committee is meeting tonight at 5:30 p.m. at Parkside Elementary School for a tour to be made aware of issues within the building. The meeting is one of several to identify problems within each district building.
"The reality is that our newest building was built in the mid-80s, and as buildings age, repairs are going to come up that need to be done," Waski said.
Policy dictates all doors be locked during the school day, but when high school students leave for lunch every day, doors are unlocked. Though Waski said staff are put in place to monitor the doors, it does cause a lapse in the rules.
Noting concerns from parents in the recent week, he said there are few options for preventing students from opening a door from the inside to allow someone else to enter. However, while Waski said he knows of mechanisms for an alarm to sound if that happened, he said there would again be an expense and that mistakes could cause the light and sound to go off. And though staff regularly inform building principals and vice principals of security concerns, even evaluating those staff on whether doors are secured, missteps can be made.
"We do the best we can to reduce human error or structural error," Waski said, noting wind or not-quite-secured latches can cause problems. "We have a very caring and dedicated staff that will do anything to keep our students safe."