School Safety: There’s An App For That
March 9, 2018 at 4:44 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
Goshert said he had met with Warsaw Community High School officials regarding its protocol if a shooter entered the building. He was told the decision to either run or barricade was up to each individual teacher. When the sheriff asked what the criteria was for making the decision, Goshert was told there is none.
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“You’re laying it on me that I need to make that decision on whether we’re going to barricade or run, and I decide we’re going to run because they say that’s the number one thing to do, so we go out and run and I run my class right into it,” Goshert said from a teacher’s point of view.
“Now, this teacher is going to have to live with this, and the school system is going to have to live with it, because I made the decision. And all of us could make the wrong decision.”
Goshert said an app is available from a company called “Safe Schools” with three buttons: one for a test, another for an intruder in the building, and a third for immediate decision.
The app would notify everyone else in the building as well as every law enforcement official in the county of the situation, and even nearby off-duty officers could respond.
“Say there was an intruder on the north end of a building. The other teachers in that end of the building would then barricade, while at the south end they’d run,” he said.
The county’s dispatch center already has access to video feeds from Wawasee and Warsaw high schools, which would allow 911 personnel to direct responders once inside the building. Goshert said they’re working on getting cameras in the halls of Tippecanoe Valley High School as well.
Goshert also said he’s against arming teachers with guns.
“Let’s say I have an undercover guy who gets the call and he’s going in. That’s what we’re going to do; we’re going in. Now a teacher is working his way down a hallway and sees my guy with his gun drawn. That could be a catastrophe.
“And a lot of teachers right out of college look young enough to be high school students, so I wouldn’t want my guy shooting a teacher, either.”
The cost for the schools would work out to be less than a penny per student, and is free for law enforcement officers. Goshert told the council he will pursue additional information as quickly as possible and get back to them with more information and possibly a demonstration.
The council also approved keeping the wheel tax at its current level, in spite of the state permitting and encouraging counties to double the tax.
Council President Sue Ann Mitchell said state officials have been pressuring counties to increase the tax. She said, “I’ve heard if we don’t do it, the state may be less inclined to help us out with more money for our roads.”
In other business, county Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver asked for an appropriation of $10,000 for radio and billboard advertising relating to educating the public on the opioid crisis.
Weaver said artwork for the billboards would be provided by the federal Center For Disease Control and Prevention at no cost, and that the billboards would be in different spots in the county throughout the year. The council approved the request.
Stephen Boggs, director of Bell Memorial Library in Mentone, asked for and received an $11,000 appropriation from the library’s Rainy Day fund. Most of the money would be put toward building repairs and maintenance needs accelerated by the recent rains, and the remainder would be combined with other designated funds for a new web server and accounting system, both of which are near the end of their life expectancies.
Community Corrections Director Anna Bailey asked for appropriations totaling $202,200. The lions’ share, $145,600, will be for GPS, alcohol and data systems that track those convicted of alcohol-related crimes. Bailey said right now they have 100 people on the system and another 20 on a waiting list.
Another $31,600 would be for six months’ worth of drug screening, and $25,000 is budgeted for nine people in the department to go to a training seminar in Houston. Bailey said the seminar has a cost of $795 per person and is recognized as one of the top training opportunities in the country. The rest would go toward travel-related expenses. The appropriation was approved.
The council also approved a pair of appropriations for the sheriff’s department for car repairs and the highway department for a heavy towing reimbursement.
Bowen Center CEO Kurt Carlson spent about 20 minutes answering questions council members submitted regarding the center’s relationship with the county and with surrounding counties. Mitchell said the questions were more of an update than anything else, and if nothing else the county would look to increase, not decrease, its funding to the center.
Council members heard an update on the proposed sewer system for Tippecanoe Lake from county attorney Chad Miner. The update was essentially the same one Miner gave the county commissioners Tuesday; that plans are moving forward and an appropriation for $145,000 to pay the legal, financial and engineering firms involved to get started on the project would be coming at the April 12 council meeting.
Emergency Management Director Ed Rock received the council’s permission to pursue a $50,000 grant to pay a portion of Rock’s and his assistant’s salaries. The grant would be a reimbursement of salary already paid.
County Clerk Ann Torpy received approval from the council to install Odyssey, a new records system provided by the state.
The county council meets at 7 p.m. the second Thursday of the month in the county courthouse.
Goshert said he had met with Warsaw Community High School officials regarding its protocol if a shooter entered the building. He was told the decision to either run or barricade was up to each individual teacher. When the sheriff asked what the criteria was for making the decision, Goshert was told there is none.
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“You’re laying it on me that I need to make that decision on whether we’re going to barricade or run, and I decide we’re going to run because they say that’s the number one thing to do, so we go out and run and I run my class right into it,” Goshert said from a teacher’s point of view.
“Now, this teacher is going to have to live with this, and the school system is going to have to live with it, because I made the decision. And all of us could make the wrong decision.”
Goshert said an app is available from a company called “Safe Schools” with three buttons: one for a test, another for an intruder in the building, and a third for immediate decision.
The app would notify everyone else in the building as well as every law enforcement official in the county of the situation, and even nearby off-duty officers could respond.
“Say there was an intruder on the north end of a building. The other teachers in that end of the building would then barricade, while at the south end they’d run,” he said.
The county’s dispatch center already has access to video feeds from Wawasee and Warsaw high schools, which would allow 911 personnel to direct responders once inside the building. Goshert said they’re working on getting cameras in the halls of Tippecanoe Valley High School as well.
Goshert also said he’s against arming teachers with guns.
“Let’s say I have an undercover guy who gets the call and he’s going in. That’s what we’re going to do; we’re going in. Now a teacher is working his way down a hallway and sees my guy with his gun drawn. That could be a catastrophe.
“And a lot of teachers right out of college look young enough to be high school students, so I wouldn’t want my guy shooting a teacher, either.”
The cost for the schools would work out to be less than a penny per student, and is free for law enforcement officers. Goshert told the council he will pursue additional information as quickly as possible and get back to them with more information and possibly a demonstration.
The council also approved keeping the wheel tax at its current level, in spite of the state permitting and encouraging counties to double the tax.
Council President Sue Ann Mitchell said state officials have been pressuring counties to increase the tax. She said, “I’ve heard if we don’t do it, the state may be less inclined to help us out with more money for our roads.”
In other business, county Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver asked for an appropriation of $10,000 for radio and billboard advertising relating to educating the public on the opioid crisis.
Weaver said artwork for the billboards would be provided by the federal Center For Disease Control and Prevention at no cost, and that the billboards would be in different spots in the county throughout the year. The council approved the request.
Stephen Boggs, director of Bell Memorial Library in Mentone, asked for and received an $11,000 appropriation from the library’s Rainy Day fund. Most of the money would be put toward building repairs and maintenance needs accelerated by the recent rains, and the remainder would be combined with other designated funds for a new web server and accounting system, both of which are near the end of their life expectancies.
Community Corrections Director Anna Bailey asked for appropriations totaling $202,200. The lions’ share, $145,600, will be for GPS, alcohol and data systems that track those convicted of alcohol-related crimes. Bailey said right now they have 100 people on the system and another 20 on a waiting list.
Another $31,600 would be for six months’ worth of drug screening, and $25,000 is budgeted for nine people in the department to go to a training seminar in Houston. Bailey said the seminar has a cost of $795 per person and is recognized as one of the top training opportunities in the country. The rest would go toward travel-related expenses. The appropriation was approved.
The council also approved a pair of appropriations for the sheriff’s department for car repairs and the highway department for a heavy towing reimbursement.
Bowen Center CEO Kurt Carlson spent about 20 minutes answering questions council members submitted regarding the center’s relationship with the county and with surrounding counties. Mitchell said the questions were more of an update than anything else, and if nothing else the county would look to increase, not decrease, its funding to the center.
Council members heard an update on the proposed sewer system for Tippecanoe Lake from county attorney Chad Miner. The update was essentially the same one Miner gave the county commissioners Tuesday; that plans are moving forward and an appropriation for $145,000 to pay the legal, financial and engineering firms involved to get started on the project would be coming at the April 12 council meeting.
Emergency Management Director Ed Rock received the council’s permission to pursue a $50,000 grant to pay a portion of Rock’s and his assistant’s salaries. The grant would be a reimbursement of salary already paid.
County Clerk Ann Torpy received approval from the council to install Odyssey, a new records system provided by the state.
The county council meets at 7 p.m. the second Thursday of the month in the county courthouse.
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