BOURBON – Triton School Board approved its emergency preparedness plan Monday after answering a parent’s concern about what his part as parent was in the plan.
Superintendent Jeremy Riffle said the emergency preparedness plan is a document the school board approves every year for the school corporation.
Parent Jared Crooks said there are certain stories that pop up in the media, with the most recent on being the school shooting in Georgia and last year’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Crooks said he talked with his kids and he has zero concerns about the internal procedure that’s in place. His kids are well aware of the lockdown procedure and he knows Triton has a school resource officer.
With the geography of Bourbon, best case scenario, he said, a reliable police source was probably about 10 minutes away from the school campus and worst case scenario it was about 20 or 30 minutes away.
“From my previous life, I can tell you those minutes are an eternity when you’re put in that situation,” he said.
Crooks said he has no idea what his role as a parent is in the emergency management plan. He asked what that communication process looks like, how does he link up with his child, etc.
The first thing Riffle brought up was the cell phone policy the school board recently approved, which doesn’t allow for students to have their cell phones in class. He said he has had parents ask about that and a student’s cell phone has never been part of the school corporation’s emergency plan.
In their plan they don’t advertise to everyone, Riffle said, there are multiple places students can be relocated in the case of an emergency. The children will then be reconnected with their parents.
Every staff member also has the SchoolGuard active shooter app, which allows the staff member to communicate there is some sort of threat and can initiate a lockdown. Also, law enforcement within a 15-minute radius will be notified.
Parents were also given emergency preparedness cards, which will work on the school corporation’s Raptor system if parents used the cards.
The biggest thing the school corporation will ask of parents if something happens is patience, Riffle said. Triton has multiple ways of communicating with parents, whether that’s an email or phone call. In the case of a shooting, the school will probably be calling parents.
The board also had a public hearing for the school corporation’s 2025 budget.
The budget totals $14,132,010. The rainy day fund is $500,000. The debt service fund is $1,814,900. The education fund is $7,805,950. The operations fund is $4,011,160.
There were no public comments. The budget will be adopted at 7 p.m. Oct. 7.
Also, the board had a public hearing for collective bargaining between Triton School Corporation and the Triton Teachers Association. Riffle said they are allowed to start the bargaining process Sept. 15. There will be two meetings between representatives of school administration and TTA members in October, as well.
In other business, the board learned:
• The fence by the football field is currently being removed.
• Triton Elementary School recently did dyslexia screenings for first- and second-graders.
• The elementary school had vision screenings for first-, third- and fifth-graders.