It Takes a Village

Community Comes Together

After seeing the tragic events that occurred in Parkland, Fla., at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, Jay County School Superintendent Jeremy Gulley says he knew immediately that he needed to spearhead some real changes in his school district. To accomplish this goal, he also knew that getting support from the community was a vitally important first step.

“We did engage with our community and our parents and that was done early in the process,” says Gulley, adding, “I recognized that I had a tremendous responsibility, opportunity and resources to address the moment.”

Gulley, a retired Army National Guardsmen who served on multiple deployments as a Lt. Col., spearheaded the creation of a county wide school safety team made up of representatives from the school district, mental health professionals, the county sheriff, police chiefs, fire chief, EMS, and representatives from the juvenile justice system. The group meets annually to review “where we were, where we're at, and where we're going,” says Gulley.

With input and strong approval from the community, the team proposed a short- and long-term school safety plan. With so many stakeholders involved, this was a crucially important step in the overall process of bringing everyone together and on the same page in terms of setting goals to tackle such a monumental task.

“We brought people together around a topic that unifies everyone — school security,” Gulley explains. “Don't underestimate the willingness of people to get behind you, because in many cases they are just happy someone's taking it seriously and they’ll appreciate and support it. Protecting innocent life in the schools is the highest responsibility all of us have.”

Enacting Change

With strong support from the community, Jay County school district was initially able to secure a loan through the Indiana Common School Fund, a state program that allows school districts to access credit at very low interest rates for school safety initiatives, which was used for the purchase of physical security items as part of the overall safety approach, and security enhancements were implemented all at once across all schools, rather than a school-by-school approach.

In addition, funding came from state-specific programs, such as the Indiana Secured School Safety Grant, a dedicated state fund that provides matching grants to school corporations, accredited non-public schools, charter schools, and coalitions of school corporations. Another funding source came from the continuous debt service tax rate that every school district maintains to support essential school projects, such as building maintenance, upgrades, and physical security needs.

The district also received a significant private philanthropic donation for mental health initiatives, which enabled the establishment of an on-site mental health clinic to provide services to students and their families at no cost, addressing the crucial prevention aspect of school safety. And finally, the team utilized federal and private sector grants.

A rural district of Jay County’s size lacks the resources for a full-time security director in an operation center, so their core leadership team, which included school administrators and the elected sheriff, played a crucial role in bringing the strategy to fruition. The sheriff was instrumental in the initiative, even accompanying Gulley to testify at the Indiana General Assembly on school safety topics. Although the district initially did not have any full-time school resource officers, they quickly secured one, thanks to the cooperation of the countywide school safety team.

The lessons Gulley learned from researching prior school shootings, such as reviewing the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission findings, led him to an overall strategy that was defined by the words — “deterrence, detection, denial and defeat,” he explains. “I operationalize the meaning of those words in the context of preventing, slowing or stopping active shooter events in a school setting. We use three pillars, three simple words – prevention, hardening and arming – so It's easy to remember.”

Priority one, Gulley says, was working on a layered approach, starting with the perimeter by creating a secure, single main point of entry for each of the schools. Another important step was camera integration with the 911 dispatch center, so that police and first responders could access those cameras during an emergency. “We did ask for assistance from our school attorneys to create a memorandum of understanding with our sheriff's office and our county to govern the use of those remote access cameras in the event of an emergency, and that was important,” he explains.

PASS Guidelines and Resources

Another key to Jay County’s strategy is leveraging the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) guidelines, which provide a continuum for assessing schools’ physical security and strategically identifying areas for investment to improve implementation of its tiers. Gulley, who is now on the PASS Advisory Board, says he only wishes he had discovered PASS earlier in the process.

“I was really pleased when I connected with PASS because there was so much detail about how to implement across tiers and layers of school safety, which were in line with what I had begun to employ early in the process,” he recalls. “The PASS guidelines give school officials a chance to organize their thinking and speak with some authority with parents, the community and other stakeholders, because you can resource back to or tie back to the PASS guidelines as an authority on the topic.”

As Gulley astutely points out, schools do not have to get everything done all at once, and the PASS guidelines provide a framework for schools to create a phased approach based on when funding becomes available.

“You can use those guidelines to prioritize resourcing and implementation across time,” he says. “PASS puts out a top-shelf product for school administrators who just aren't trained for this, and it gives them something they can grab onto and a path to start down to improve school safety from day one.”

Gulley says he also looks to PASS for guidance on which technology and equipment providers to choose as the organization has a list of technology partners available as a resource.  “They are a credible organization, and to me they provide a kind of ‘seal of approval’ when you see the different manufacturers that support and partner with them.”

Sandy Hook Promise and Alyssa’s Law

Another powerful tool the school district leverages came from a student’s suggestion to watch a video by an organization, Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit whose mission is to educate and empower youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes and communities. The video shows the tell-tale signs a person will exhibit prior to and when having a mental health crisis and impulse of an act of violence.

“Because of that student’s suggestion I watched that video, and it was very powerful and compelling,” he explains. “And I reached out to Sandy Hook Promise and signed agreements with them to implement their anonymous reporting system, which is a highly effective system that has produced hundreds of tips for bullying, suicidal ideations, for example. It's been in use for years, and it's probably one of the top five things I think every school in America should have.”

The organization’s Say Something Anonymous Reporting System enables students to anonymously report an issue 24/7/365 through an app, hotline or website when they see a classmate who is at risk of harming themselves or others. And its evidence-informed Know the Signs programs teach young people and adults to recognize, intervene, and get help for individuals who may be socially isolated and/or at risk of hurting themselves or others. To date, the organization says 31 million have participated in the Know the Signs programs, with 700 confirmed lives saved with crisis interventions and 18 planned school shootings prevented.

In addition to the anonymous reporting system, the district added panic alarm buttons for each staff member, allowing them to initiate a lockdown and faster response from first responders.

“This has been very highly effective, and also one of my top five things every school should have,” Gulley explains. “The alarms really buy time while allowing the teachers and staff to communicate with the people that must respond in such a short amount of time. And that's such a challenge, as even the best response times from police usually are just not fast enough, which is what led us to wearable technology to activate a lockdown with the push of a button on a badge, and it can geolocate where that was deployed.”

Gulley says he learned about the importance of wearable technology through Alyssa’s Law, which calls for the installation of silent panic alarms that are directly linked to law enforcement, so in case of any emergency they will get on the scene as quickly as possible, take down a threat and triage any victims. Alyssa’s Law has currently been passed in seven states with many more states in the process of enacting the legislation.

Preserving a Culture of Learning

One important consideration throughout the process, Gulley says, is striking the right balance between security and preserving a welcoming, open atmosphere to foster a culture of learning.

One way the school has been able to create a more inviting atmosphere while increasing security is in the form of a furry friend who can detect firearms. The district’s purchase of the black Labrador Retriever is a great example how they are “making schools safer but making them warm and welcoming as well,” says Gulley. “The kids love the dog. He deescalates — I've watched him do this. He also helps with kids who have special needs, are in crises or lost a family member, just anyone who needs some help. It is amazing to just watch the students smile when they walk down the hall.”

Overall, the focus on security and safety has created a sense of confidence and appreciation from the school community because “they know that their school district does take this seriously,” Gulley says. “We're not perfect, no school is, but we are different now than we were five years ago, and people have noticed that.”

Top Five Safety Components

The following are Gulley’s five top five safety components every school district should consider:

Anonymous Reporting Systems: Establishing anonymous reporting systems is crucial, allowing individuals to communicate concerns about potential threats or crises. These systems can be monitored continuously and have been shown to save lives in unexpected situations, including drug overdoses, mental health crises, and even potential school shootings. Preventing tragedies before they escalate is essential for school safety.

Trained Threat Assessment Teams: It’s vital to train threat assessment teams composed of school security experts. These teams assess and respond to threats effectively, collaborating with local law enforcement or school resource officers. This partnership empowers school leaders to handle potential crises with confidence and readiness.

Crisis Response Systems: Schools need a well-structured crisis response system that enables immediate communication of threats and responses to the entire school community. This ensures that every employee is equipped to take appropriate action, such as initiating lockdown procedures, while maintaining direct communication with 911 dispatchers for swift police notification.

Full-Time School Resource Officers (SROs): Having full-time school resource officers in every school is essential. While the concept of SROs may not have been widely recognized two decades ago, their presence is now considered a critical component of school safety. Many schools still lack full-time SROs, highlighting the need for districts to prioritize this resource.

Partnership Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS): Schools should consider becoming a nonprofit partner of PASS. Many school leaders may feel overwhelmed by the complexities of ensuring safety and may hesitate to tackle issues they feel unqualified to address. Utilizing PASS’ frameworks and resources can empower school safety teams, offering structured processes to enhance their effectiveness and confidence in managing safety concerns.