March 11, 2024 • 30 mins
Safety within our schools takes center stage as we sit down with Penny Schultz, Assistant Director of Safety and Security, and Matt Hamel, Commonwealth's Attorney, to get a behind-the-scenes look at the strategies and dedication driving the local School Safety Task Force. Discover how collaborative efforts across city departments are keeping our schools safe. As Schultz and Hamel detail the strides taken in protecting our students, you'll gain invaluable insight into the proactive measures to keep our schools secure.
Your voice matters, and we extend an open invitation to contribute your perspective at the upcoming School Safety Forums! Together, we're not just building safer schools; we're creating a safe space for education and growth. Join us in this pivotal conversation, because when it comes to our children's future, every voice can make a world of difference. 👉 Visit https://www.cpschools.com/page/safety-and-security for more information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Beginning Monday, april 8th 2024, you will have
the ability to register yourchild or children for the
2024-2025 school year.
Visit cpschoolscom for any andall information regarding how to
register your child.
Welcome to Amplify theChesapeake Public Schools
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Amplify Schools is located in the Hampton Roads
area of southeastern Virginia.
We serve 40,000 students in 45schools and 3 centers.
This podcast is designed totell the stories behind our
story and to introduce andcelebrate the people and
programs that make us one of thepremier school districts in
Virginia.
Well, so here we are againanother episode of Amplify, the
(00:51):
Chesapeake Public Schoolspodcast.
I'm Richie Bab here with MagRamand Matt.
I'm glad you mentionedenrollment because you know I
mean my tendency would be towait until, like I don't know,
august.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
You know what I mean.
I would recommend doing that.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, no we shouldn't do that.
If you know your kid's going toChesapeake Public Schools
starting in the fall of 2024,starting April 8th you can start
the registration process,because registering is not just
saving your kid a seat in ateacher's classroom, it's
setting up transportation routes, it's making sure you have all
your medical information thatyou need.
So our recommendation to you isstarting April 8th, you can
(01:27):
start registering your kid andthen you can spend your summer
by the pool and not have toworry about oh, I got to
register my kid.
Oh, finding that form.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah right?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Oh, I got to call the doctor's office, I got to get a
vaccine.
So let's take care of all thatnow, so that you have a summer
where you don't have to worryabout Enjoy your summer, enjoy
your summer.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, yeah, don't worry about that.
I like that.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So we got someone who commented from our previous
episode on dual enrollment.
Yes, that is correct and I'mvery happy about that, because
we always say you can find us orvisit us.
Please share your comments andshout out to this parent who did
that.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, and you can ask us anything.
If you click let's Talk, and weactually have really a good
story.
What is recently run was abonus episode on dual enrollment
, where kids in high school canregister or sign up for classes
in a way that they get highschool credit and college credit
Right.
So this parent heard this and Imean it's a pretty good
(02:31):
testimonial.
He said, when he's talkingabout his son, when he arrived
on grounds at UVA he wasconsidered a third year meaning
everybody else are called ajunior when students he
graduated from high school withwere entering as second year
students.
So he says dual enrollmentoffered him a second chance and
he's very happy to say thathe'll graduate in May from the
(02:54):
only school he wanted to attend,other than TCC.
But he went there.
You know, obviously dualenrollment, uva offered him a
second chance due to himutilizing the dual enrollment
opportunity he was able to takea part in.
As a parent, I'm a big fan.
On behalf of my son, thank you.
I'm telling you that dualenrollment if you haven't heard
that, go back and listen to it.
(03:14):
If you have a kid that's inhigh school or about to be in
high school, it's a way to.
I mean, here's a kid thatanother success, another success
story went to UVA, entered as ajunior right Because of his
dual enrollment and I'm sure insome part is AP classes, because
he took a few AP classes aswell, but the dual enrollment
really made a difference forthis student.
(03:35):
He's graduating in May.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So that's amazing and thank you, and thank you for
sharing that and thank you forhaving us, because this is sort
of the interaction we're lookingfor and having this two-way
conversation with our listenersthat are out there as well.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So if you have a story, if you have an idea,
something you'd like to hearabout, something you're curious
about, go into click the let'sTalk and look for, Ask Us
Anything that's right, or justgo to cpschoolscom forward,
slash, amplify and it's there.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
It's right there, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Click away.
Yeah.
So today, though to change thetopic a little bit, today's
episode is all about schoolsafety.
It's an upcoming school safetyforum that includes the school
safety task force.
I don't know if people in ourcommunity actually knows that
there is a school safety taskforce Right?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I mean, I'm not sure they would.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah but there is.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And we highlighted that in this episode coming up
with two individuals.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yep, and I want you to, and we'll introduce them
when we get into the show.
But pay close attention toschool safety is on everybody's
mind.
We cannot not be diligent aboutit, and we're going to talk to
two people who are very diligentand who are going to give you
the latest on our school safetyefforts.
All right, thanks for joiningus here on Amplify, the Chester
(04:50):
Republic Schools podcast.
And today, a subject really weprobably could have done and
could do all the time, which isschool safety, because it's such
an important part of what we dohere in the school district.
But we're here to talk aboutthat today, and our guests are
Penny Schultz, who is AssistantDirector of Safety and Security.
And Matt Hamill is with us, aCommonwealth Attorney for the
(05:12):
city of Chester.
Peek is with us as well, andyou may wonder why we have the
Commonwealth Attorney here.
Well, because he's aCommonwealth Attorney and he's
involved in our school safetyplanning.
We'll talk more about that,about our school safety task
force.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Right.
So welcome to the podcast,welcome to our show, and one
thing that we do to start us offis for you to go ahead and tell
us a little bit about yourself,a little bit about your
background.
So, penny, do you mind goingahead and sharing with us your
background?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I don't.
My career began I started as apolice officer for the city of
Virginia Beach, did that for afew years and realized my
passion was actually on how wecurb criminal charges, curb
arrests of our juveniles.
Where do you better?
You know where best to do.
That would be in school system.
So I became a career switcherand have been in the school
system for several years sincethen, now leading the last two
(06:02):
years into this role as theAssistant Director of School
Safety and Security, which isnear and dear to my heart.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
And a busy job.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Very good.
How about you, Matt?
What's your background?
Speaker 4 (06:13):
So I actually was originally relocated here with
the Navy back right after well.
I was working in New York Cityon September 11th, was an
eyewitness to the World TradeCenter attacks and I joined the
Navy after that.
I was going to law school atnight and the Navy sent me down
here and I was a prosecutor inNorfolk, did some operational
(06:34):
tours, went to Iraq and thentransitioned to the reserves.
After that, I was in privatepractice here locally for many
years.
I ran for city council in 2018and was fortunate enough to be
elected to that job, which iswhere I had my first
introduction to the schoolsafety task force, because I was
one of two council appointeesto the school safety task force.
(06:54):
And then, in 2021, I ran forthe vacant Commonwealth's
Attorney's seat.
There was going to be vacantand I was fortunate enough to
win that race.
But I think my biggest claim tofame from all of this has
nothing to do with politics ormy law career.
It has to do with being a dadof four kids.
All four of them are either agraduate of Chesapeake Public
(07:17):
Schools my daughter eldestdaughter graduated from
Grassfield in 2020, and I rightnow have three kids in three
different grades at GrassfieldHigh School, a senior, a junior
and a freshman.
So I've got a personal vestedinterest in all this in addition
to my official or professionalrole.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, so tell us what the Commonwealth Attorney does.
What are your responsibilitiesof that?
Speaker 4 (07:40):
job.
So essentially we are what manyjurisdictions call the district
attorney.
So my role as the chiefprosecutor for the city of
Chesapeake is to run an officecomprised of approximately 30
prosecutors and another 25 or sosupport staff and our main
statutory responsibilities toprosecute all felonies for the
(08:03):
city of Chesapeake and certainmisdemeanors.
However, we we do prosecute alot more cases than we are
statutorily mandated to take on.
For example, we assign aprosecutor for every DUI case
that occurs in the city and weassign a prosecutor to any case
that originates on schoolproperty or involving a firearm,
(08:24):
things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Okay, so that's sort of sounds like another busy job.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, right.
So school safety is oneveryone's mind.
It is our top priority here atChesapeake Public Schools.
Penny, can you share with ussort of some of the things that
fall under school safety?
Speaker 3 (08:42):
That's a big topic.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
So I had to say, in essence it encompasses
everything from physicalsecurity all the way to social,
emotional security for studentstaff and faculty in our in our
district.
What that means is everything,in every avenue, every
department in our city, there'ssomething to do with safety.
Right, our number one goal isto make sure that our students
(09:04):
and staff have a safe learningenvironment.
So when we look at that, welook at everything from Crime
prevention through environmentaldesign, how schools are set up,
how they're structured, howtraffic flows all the way down
to Do our students feel safe tocome into school and while
they're there for six plus hours, do they feel safe?
Do they have resources in theschool that they can report
(09:25):
situations or incidents to, orany anonymous information that
they may have overheard?
That may they may think isirrelevant, but is Super
important to what we do to makesure that we're stopping
everything in anything before itcomes to fruition.
So in essence, we pretty muchleak into every single avenue.
Our office is extremely busy.
We get called from everythingfrom student enrollment to
(09:49):
school plants, to newconstruction, to consistent
training.
One big piece that our officetakes on is Consistent training
with staff, facultyadministrators, to make sure
that we're doing our duediligence and nothing falls
between the cracks as we look atconsistency efforts as it
relates to safety initiativesthat we've put in place in
Chesapeake right, right.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
And and what do you think that your office has seen
since you've been here for thepast two years?
Or where do you think we havemaybe improved the most, or what
has changed a little bit sinceyou've been here?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I would say the biggest piece is information
sharing and transparency for thethings that we can share.
As you know, safety is justthat in and of itself safety and
we don't.
We don't like to put everythingthat we've done out to the
public Just because it couldcompromise safety, but
everything that we can share, wetry to be as transparent as
possible.
We hold, you know, multipledifferent forums, whether it's
(10:44):
community engagement, joint CityCouncil meetings, where we
share information, our websitesup and running, so there's
information on there as well.
But the biggest I thinkaccomplishment is is making sure
that our practices areconsistent across every single
school.
Historically, when you, when youthink of a school, that
principle is you know the personin charge of that school and,
without any guidance or if wenever started school safety and
(11:06):
school safety initiatives,they're running how they see fit
and in you know, within theirworld, in their realm of
experience.
What we want to make sure iswe're doing everything we can in
our power to make sure we'reupholding the critical
components of safety and we'relooking at all of you know any
and all new initiatives thatcome down after Unfortunate
previous experiences across thenation of catastrophic incidents
(11:29):
.
So we look at all of thosereports, those commissioned
reports, and we make sureanything that you know they may
have recommended or they theythought that could have been
improved or could have preventedthose incidents, we take a real
deep dive into all of thoseReports and then it's our job in
the school safety task force tosay this is what we need to do,
(11:50):
this is what we need to change,and sometimes they're quick
little tweaks of things we canchange.
But the important, keycomponent is making sure our
community, our faculty, ourstaff, our students know what
those changes are and theyuphold them in their buildings
on a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, school vestibules come to mind as
something that must have comeout of that process, right?
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Yes, yes, it's almost in essence make sure that we
have that three-tier safetymechanism in place.
It's that triple locking doorsystem that if someone tries to
enter and gets through the firstDoor, then there's the second
and then there's the third thatis consistently locked, which
Ultimately gives us time.
When we think of school safety,especially in the worst
(12:29):
imaginable case that couldhappen and you're talking school
shootings the biggest factor wefight against isn't you know
when that person is, how quicklywe can resolve the situation.
For us, we fight against time.
When you look at it as a schoolside versus a law enforcement
side, you say what's thecritical component we fight
against is time.
Where do we find the most timeand how can we ensure that our
(12:53):
faculty staff and students havethe most amount of time To get
in a position where we can saveas many, if not all, lives
before police respond?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
right.
So, matt, what's the?
Give us some insight on schoolsafety.
I know what it looks like frominside the school district, but
give us some insight from fromyour side, from the law
enforcement side.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Well, I also want to piggyback on a couple things
that Penny said, because I'vebeen a member of this task force
now going on, I guess, five orsix years and it really is a
multi-disciplinary Team ofindividuals that comprises so
many different city Departments,not just the school system, not
just my office of commonestattorneys, but we've got mental
health folks, we've got EMSfolks that come fire, police,
(13:33):
sheriff's department.
There is a collaboration of, soof the Transportation folks,
the bus, you know, the fleetmanagement.
So many people come together Toprovide input and really take a
lot of time out of theirschedules to be part of this
multi-disciplinary Team and Ithink that, as Penny said, I
(13:54):
think the communication has beenterrific.
But if you look back at what?
When we started this back in2018, we were looking across the
school district and Reallymaking a lot of different like
some basic things, like makingsure lighting outside was fixed
in every area, making sure thesound systems were working every
we're looking at fencing andhow the entrances and the
(14:15):
egresses, how people were comingand going, and making sure that
all of these things were donein a very controlled,
professional manner as well assafe manner.
And then and we have not me butwe that the team has put
together and we've gotclassified documents of
checklists of things that we'vebeen doing over six years and
some of them have been have beenabsolutely amazing.
(14:38):
A lot of them have taken someresources, some money, but it
has been a truly a collaborativeeffort and it is really great
to see because right now thetask force is sort of co-led by
Penny from the school side andBob Geis, one of the deputy city
managers, and you see the fullsupport of both of these teams
(14:59):
and everybody that reportsunderneath them in a truly
symbiotic manner.
And we even have other citycouncil members that that are
members of the task force me asan elected official in the city
and we all bring a lot ofdifferent skill sets to the
table and, as Penny said, we'llalso look at what are things
that are happening, not just inresponse to tragedies, but what
(15:20):
are some of the best practicesand guidance that's coming out
of these things and make surethat we implement them in our.
So we're looking at differenttechnology that we can enhance
whether, if there is an incident, how can we respond to that,
how can we reunify students withtheir families.
We've done live fire exerciseswhere we've had actual shootings
(15:40):
and shut down schools for theday, and we've had police and
fire.
And I've gone, and severalmembers of the task force have
even gone, into the high schoolsto go to actual active shooter
drills with the students andwe've sat there and and some of
the things that the kids are,what our kids have to go through
is so different than what wegrew up thinking about.
Yes, I mean they've got maskingtape, some of them on the floor
(16:01):
where it's like these are killzones, so we got to get behind
the masking tape so that we knowthat if a shooter's shooting in
here we won't get hit.
And the teachers are coming upwith creative ways to protect
their own classrooms in additionto the guidance that we're
trying to put out.
So I think it's important tohighlight a lot of the work that
has gone in truly over the lastfive or six years, and I think
(16:24):
that parents and students shouldfeel very happy and very
positive about all of the thingsthat our school system and our
joint city schools task forcehave done.
And I think there's otherpeople that come from other
school divisions to our taskforce to see how we're doing it
and they will implement, theywill even start task forces
(16:44):
based upon what we're doing, andwe're already six years in and
so, like Penny said, there's,about, you know, a lot of
classified stuff that we can'tdivulge that we're doing, but
people should have a lot ofconfidence that this is a very,
very serious topic.
And one of the last things I'llsay and I don't know if I
answered your question directlyI don't know if you did either,
really, but what you're sayingso interesting, keep going, but
(17:07):
what really has.
I mean, look, when I ran forcity council and then again for
this job, here's what I think,why people live in Chesapeake.
I mean people don't move herefor the nightlife, right?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
I mean let's be honest about that.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
But they move here because we have some of the
absolute greatest schools in thestate.
We also have one of the safestcities in the state, right.
So you're coming here for goodschools and safe streets and if
we don't implement that and makesure that we are bringing that
to every role that we have inthis city, then we're failing
the citizens, and I think thatthis task force is a perfect
(17:42):
example of a symbioticrelationship among some very
good people who have the cityand the students best interests
at heart and, and honestly, forme personally, it's been an
honor to be a part of this taskforce and working alongside
people like Penny, and I thinkthat's what makes the city so
special is we have so manypeople who who just want to work
(18:03):
and serve in the city for theright reasons, and nobody on
this task force cares who getsthe credit, as long as as the
schools are safe and thestudents are safe and that's
really a beautiful thing yeah,everybody on that task force,
regardless of their role, takesthat so seriously, and not
because they don't want to bethe person to drop the ball, but
because they care about kidsand and staff and they care
(18:27):
about safety.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
We see so many tragedies.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I love the fact that we have so much work going on to
avoid, to avoid that yeah, cuzI'm not even sure that the
community really knows thatthere is a school safety task
force that's out there, so it'snice to share that with our
community and let them know thatthere are great things going on
and happening To keep ourschools safe.
Like you said, we can't divulgeeverything right, but there are
(18:52):
a lot of things there thatwe're doing that are best
practices.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Another thing that has come up recently and this is
something I think the taskforce is very proud about is the
relationship with the sheriff'sdepartment and our sheriff and
police department, and I thinkthere were eight Sheriffs
deputies who are now full-timein the schools, adding
additional school resourceofficers to supplement or
compliment the work that ourpolice department is doing.
(19:18):
I mean, that's just a onemicrocosmic example of something
that's come about this year.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That, yeah and I can tell you the principles in the
schools are the beneficiaries ofthat program Absolutely love it
, yeah, and I think it lendsconfidence to parents.
You know, sometimes, especiallyif you have a little one, it's
kind of scary to think you knowthey're gonna be in that school
all day.
And seeing an SRO, seeingsomebody that has safety first,
(19:43):
is, I think, is probablyReassuring for for a lot of
these parents.
I'm gonna come and change thetopic just a little bit, because
part of what we Do in schoolsafety is strictly manage who
comes into the building.
What should a parent who isgonna go to a school that maybe
hasn't been to a school before,what should they know about what
(20:06):
they need to be able to getinto the school and and transact
their business?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
So part of that vestibule process and that
visitor process is just that.
Unfortunately, due to eventsthat have happened across the
nation, we have to be a littlebit more structured and strict
on who we allow in our buildings.
So part of that process is, ifyou plan to visit the building,
know that you will be screenedon a camera first.
There's footprints outside ofevery single camera that you can
(20:30):
stand on.
The school security or schoolresource officer will look at
you.
I mean, obviously we want tomake sure we're doing a visual
check before anyone comes in ourbuildings, they will ask you
for ID.
You have to have a validgovernment issue ID.
They'll ask you to show that inthe camera before they even
buzz you in or allow you in thatbuilding.
Once that's done, they'll buzzyou in.
What we do ask is and I knowthis is this is a hard ask
(20:52):
sometimes and it's even for usas school officials coming in.
I can even tell you oursuperintendent, dr Cotton.
He gets asked for his ID when hecomes to the door and stands
and does the same thing pressesthe intercom button tells his
Another piece is the securityofficer will ask what your
purpose is like how can I helpyou?
Do you have a meeting?
Is it something that we evenhave to?
You know?
Is your visit and tellsomething?
We need to let you come in, orI mean we can even address and
(21:15):
bring your child out to you,right?
Because?
that process can be long andsometimes the lines are long.
Yeah, one one piece we ask isthat as hard as this is, is
there are oftentimes peoplewaiting behind you, right?
So we just ask once you'rebuzzed in, you and your family
unit may be buzzed in, and youall have shown ID and you've
come in and you're in thatsecond tier of safety with the
(21:37):
school security officer in thevestibule, please don't hold
that door for the person behindyou.
It's really hard, but it'salmost like I apologize, but you
have to go through that processfirst and the security officer
will normally tell the nextperson in line.
I'll be with you in a moment,if you can stand on the
footprints, to assist you withthat.
But that's a hard conversationsometimes because we're taught
(21:57):
historically courtesy.
And then, once you're grantedaccess into the vestibule, then
you'll have your ID.
The SS, the security officer wecall them SSOs will take your
ID and they run it throughwhat's known as our raptor
system.
That runs it through the statesex offense registry to make
sure that you're allowed to beon property.
Once that process is done,they'll notify the individual or
(22:21):
individuals who you're there tosee or whatever your need is
for that that moment, and thenthey will come and retrieve you
and then escort you through thebuilding wherever you need to be
.
You'll also get an ID raptorlabel, an ID badge to wear.
Have to wear that on your lapelsomewhere.
The SSO should be taking thelittle sticky tabs off for you
so you can stick it right onthere, because our staffer and
(22:44):
students are also trained ifthey see a stranger in our
building and they they're notaware of who they are or why
they're there they don't have alabel on, then they're directed
to report that to an adult andor the adult will Escort that
individual back to the securityvestibule to go through that
process again and make sure thatthey're there for a legitimate
reason.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, All right.
So we talked in some detailabout the school safety task
force and it looks like fromsome of your plans that you're
trying to get some communityinput.
Tell us about the upcomingschool safety forms.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Well, we have two that are coming.
The first one is scheduled forMarch 20th at Indian River High
School from 530 to 7.
We would encourage anyone andeveryone who's invested children
in the school or not, nochildren in the school If you're
invested in school safety,please come out and join this
forum.
What we will have is a panel ofrepresentatives from different
members of the school safetytask force, so we could have
(23:36):
anyone from police, fire,emergency management, rescue,
state police.
Come with attorneys office,city council's office, we have
school board members, we havesuperintendents, so there's
several people that we couldhave on that panel.
We're still working out thelist, but if you want to know
and see this collaboration inthe works and how it really
comes to fruition, this is agreat place to come and do that,
(23:58):
also to hear about some of thereally great work that we've
done through the school safetyTask force over the last six
years.
Again, we can't divulgeeverything right but you know
many of the pieces that we havedone and that we have put out
prior and anything that we arecurrently working on that we can
share.
We'd like to kind of give anoverview of all of that hard
work that we have done and letthe community know that you know
(24:19):
this is what's really going onin our schools and this these
are pieces that we're doing andputting in place to make sure
that your kiddos have a safelearning environment To come to.
At that form, we will also allowa Q&A.
So if any of our communitymembers parents, families they
want to come and they havequestions about school safety,
something they don't reallyunderstand, questions about some
of the information we put out,that's the time and place to ask
(24:41):
.
We also, more importantly,really want to hear from our
community.
What else can we be doing?
Because, even though we haveall the big, brilliant minds in
the city coming together, weneed that piece.
Yeah, they're the parents.
They hear from their kids.
If you really think about thebrilliant minds, of what's
happening in a school, that's itright.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Right yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Right, we need that input.
If there's something we can bedoing or ideas that parents have
or things that they're hearingfrom their kids like I'm just
not real comfortable at thispart of my day because of these
reasons share with us.
Let us know.
We can bring it back to theschool safety task force.
We can dissect that informationand find out how we can make
life better for our kiddos andour communities and our schools.
(25:21):
That's its purpose.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Right, and let's say a parent can't make the form for
some reason.
Are there community resourcesout there for parents to go to
in the meantime to take a lookand see what's going on?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yes, so my office has a web page that's up and
running.
On that web page there arespecific links to what's called
Report Line, where it'sanonymous reporting.
The way it's worded is for ourkiddos to be able to report to
their administrators anonymously, but anyone can click on that
link and fill it out.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
And do.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
And do yes, right, yes.
So let's talk about something.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
What are you concerned about?
If you can't make the form andyou have questions or you want
to provide just some input orideas, please use that app.
Let us know.
You can choose my office,Office of Safety and Security,
where that report will godirectly to and we can have a
conversation.
I can reach out to you or I canrespond through the let's Talk
app.
We'd be happy to hear that.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
And that link's available, I think, on every
page on our website.
That's right.
Yes, yes, every school has itthere and people are taking
advantage of that.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
And my email address is also on there.
So if you'd rather have a moreprivate conversation or email me
with any questions concerns,you can do that too.
I would prefer the let's Talkapp just because that comes
directly to me quickly and we'reon it every morning, every
morning, first thing in themorning.
Sometimes, you know, emails getinundated.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Right, that's true.
Yeah, that's true, matt.
What do you hope that the taskforce gets out of these forums?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Well, I think it's a lot of what Penny said.
It's a two-way street, right.
I think the main component isnot only an opportunity to
educate the public and theparents and the students on all
the great strides that have beenmade so far.
That's one piece of it, but theother piece is certainly to
have that interaction and toreceive feedback and, as Penny
(27:13):
said, we will take that back tothe task force.
When we first started the taskforce back five or six years ago
in 2018, it was kind of a moreof an ad hoc.
We all came together, all thesedifferent disciplines, and we
really did make a lot of greatstrides and then that kind of
morphed into.
We created subgroups that cameout of it, and so now we have,
like, a physical securitysubgroup, we've got a grant
(27:36):
subgroup, we've got a mentalhealth subgroup.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Communications.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Communication subgroup and training.
So what we've tried to do iswe've made a lot of progress,
but we're now getting to thepoint where and this is an
ongoing thing Right, and justlike how, when you go to the
airport and how life changed forall of us after 9-11, you're
never going to make something100% full proof.
(28:01):
It just is not possible.
Just like you see these massshootings around the country.
But what we can do is be asproactive as we possibly can to
think about in a very deliberateway all of the possible
vulnerabilities that we have andthe things that we need to do
to continue this continuum ofprogress, and I think that that,
(28:23):
for me, is really the mainpurpose of the forum is to give
a little bit of feedback tofolks about these things and
then also receive a lot offeedback about things we may not
be thinking about.
And my biggest concern withforums like this and I see this
when I used to serve on citycouncil too is you don't
oftentimes get the people tocome to these forums that really
(28:45):
need to have the informationand or to provide the
information, and so one of thereasons why I was I'm very happy
to be participating even inthis broadcast with you all is
to get the word out so peoplewill come.
Come provide your feedback, geteducated.
This is not a confrontationalsort of a thing where we're all
(29:05):
in this together, quite frankly,and we're happy to receive
constructive feedback to makethings better, and I think
everybody on that task force isvery receptive to that mindset.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And it really gives you an opportunity.
It's like a whole bunch of neweyes and ears out there, from
perspectives that you may nothave on the task force.
And give us the dates andplaces for those again, penny.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
I know I said the first one, I apologize.
It's March 20th at Indian RiverHigh School from 5.30 to 7.00
PM, and then the second one isMay 22nd at Western Branch High
School, from 5.30 to 7.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
So they're both identical.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
So if you can make, one, you can make the other.
But again, just to piggybackoff what Matt said, it is
critical for us to hear from ourcommunity.
We sit in the chairs becauseand we're in it every day but we
also don't see from the outsideend.
So there's no idea that's toosmall.
There's nothing that would notbe taken and received very well
from this school safety taskforce and the panel members.
We're eager to hear what ourcommunity has to say.
(30:01):
Provide us feedback, please Allright.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Well, I want to say thank you all for shedding a
light on all the things that arehappening with school safety in
a positive way and how we are,like you said, Matt, being
proactive as much as we possiblycan.
Community out there, please.
You heard the call let's getout there to the forum.
We definitely want to hear whatyou have to say, what your
concerns, your feedback, so theschool safety task force can
(30:26):
take that back and move forwardwith all that information.
Thank you all again forparticipating and coming in.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
It's been nice having you.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And we'll see you next time.
Yes, indeed.
Beginning Monday, april 8th 2024, you will have
the ability to register yourchild or children for the
2024-2025 school year.
Visit cpschoolscom for any andall information regarding how to
register your child.
Welcome to Amplify theChesapeake Public Schools
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Amplify Schools is located in the Hampton Roads
area of southeastern Virginia.
We serve 40,000 students in 45schools and 3 centers.
This podcast is designed totell the stories behind our
story and to introduce andcelebrate the people and
programs that make us one of thepremier school districts in
Virginia.
Well, so here we are againanother episode of Amplify, the
(00:51):
Chesapeake Public Schoolspodcast.
I'm Richie Bab here with MagRamand Matt.
I'm glad you mentionedenrollment because you know I
mean my tendency would be towait until, like I don't know,
august.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
You know what I mean.
I would recommend doing that.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, no we shouldn't do that.
If you know your kid's going toChesapeake Public Schools
starting in the fall of 2024,starting April 8th you can start
the registration process,because registering is not just
saving your kid a seat in ateacher's classroom, it's
setting up transportation routes, it's making sure you have all
your medical information thatyou need.
So our recommendation to you isstarting April 8th, you can
(01:27):
start registering your kid andthen you can spend your summer
by the pool and not have toworry about oh, I got to
register my kid.
Oh, finding that form.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah right?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Oh, I got to call the doctor's office, I got to get a
vaccine.
So let's take care of all thatnow, so that you have a summer
where you don't have to worryabout Enjoy your summer, enjoy
your summer.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, yeah, don't worry about that.
I like that.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So we got someone who commented from our previous
episode on dual enrollment.
Yes, that is correct and I'mvery happy about that, because
we always say you can find us orvisit us.
Please share your comments andshout out to this parent who did
that.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, and you can ask us anything.
If you click let's Talk, and weactually have really a good
story.
What is recently run was abonus episode on dual enrollment
, where kids in high school canregister or sign up for classes
in a way that they get highschool credit and college credit
Right.
So this parent heard this and Imean it's a pretty good
(02:31):
testimonial.
He said, when he's talkingabout his son, when he arrived
on grounds at UVA he wasconsidered a third year meaning
everybody else are called ajunior when students he
graduated from high school withwere entering as second year
students.
So he says dual enrollmentoffered him a second chance and
he's very happy to say thathe'll graduate in May from the
(02:54):
only school he wanted to attend,other than TCC.
But he went there.
You know, obviously dualenrollment, uva offered him a
second chance due to himutilizing the dual enrollment
opportunity he was able to takea part in.
As a parent, I'm a big fan.
On behalf of my son, thank you.
I'm telling you that dualenrollment if you haven't heard
that, go back and listen to it.
(03:14):
If you have a kid that's inhigh school or about to be in
high school, it's a way to.
I mean, here's a kid thatanother success, another success
story went to UVA, entered as ajunior right Because of his
dual enrollment and I'm sure insome part is AP classes, because
he took a few AP classes aswell, but the dual enrollment
really made a difference forthis student.
(03:35):
He's graduating in May.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So that's amazing and thank you, and thank you for
sharing that and thank you forhaving us, because this is sort
of the interaction we're lookingfor and having this two-way
conversation with our listenersthat are out there as well.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So if you have a story, if you have an idea,
something you'd like to hearabout, something you're curious
about, go into click the let'sTalk and look for, Ask Us
Anything that's right, or justgo to cpschoolscom forward,
slash, amplify and it's there.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
It's right there, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Click away.
Yeah.
So today, though to change thetopic a little bit, today's
episode is all about schoolsafety.
It's an upcoming school safetyforum that includes the school
safety task force.
I don't know if people in ourcommunity actually knows that
there is a school safety taskforce Right?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I mean, I'm not sure they would.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah but there is.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And we highlighted that in this episode coming up
with two individuals.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yep, and I want you to, and we'll introduce them
when we get into the show.
But pay close attention toschool safety is on everybody's
mind.
We cannot not be diligent aboutit, and we're going to talk to
two people who are very diligentand who are going to give you
the latest on our school safetyefforts.
All right, thanks for joiningus here on Amplify, the Chester
(04:50):
Republic Schools podcast.
And today, a subject really weprobably could have done and
could do all the time, which isschool safety, because it's such
an important part of what we dohere in the school district.
But we're here to talk aboutthat today, and our guests are
Penny Schultz, who is AssistantDirector of Safety and Security.
And Matt Hamill is with us, aCommonwealth Attorney for the
(05:12):
city of Chester.
Peek is with us as well, andyou may wonder why we have the
Commonwealth Attorney here.
Well, because he's aCommonwealth Attorney and he's
involved in our school safetyplanning.
We'll talk more about that,about our school safety task
force.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Right.
So welcome to the podcast,welcome to our show, and one
thing that we do to start us offis for you to go ahead and tell
us a little bit about yourself,a little bit about your
background.
So, penny, do you mind goingahead and sharing with us your
background?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I don't.
My career began I started as apolice officer for the city of
Virginia Beach, did that for afew years and realized my
passion was actually on how wecurb criminal charges, curb
arrests of our juveniles.
Where do you better?
You know where best to do.
That would be in school system.
So I became a career switcherand have been in the school
system for several years sincethen, now leading the last two
(06:02):
years into this role as theAssistant Director of School
Safety and Security, which isnear and dear to my heart.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
And a busy job.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Very good.
How about you, Matt?
What's your background?
Speaker 4 (06:13):
So I actually was originally relocated here with
the Navy back right after well.
I was working in New York Cityon September 11th, was an
eyewitness to the World TradeCenter attacks and I joined the
Navy after that.
I was going to law school atnight and the Navy sent me down
here and I was a prosecutor inNorfolk, did some operational
(06:34):
tours, went to Iraq and thentransitioned to the reserves.
After that, I was in privatepractice here locally for many
years.
I ran for city council in 2018and was fortunate enough to be
elected to that job, which iswhere I had my first
introduction to the schoolsafety task force, because I was
one of two council appointeesto the school safety task force.
(06:54):
And then, in 2021, I ran forthe vacant Commonwealth's
Attorney's seat.
There was going to be vacantand I was fortunate enough to
win that race.
But I think my biggest claim tofame from all of this has
nothing to do with politics ormy law career.
It has to do with being a dadof four kids.
All four of them are either agraduate of Chesapeake Public
(07:17):
Schools my daughter eldestdaughter graduated from
Grassfield in 2020, and I rightnow have three kids in three
different grades at GrassfieldHigh School, a senior, a junior
and a freshman.
So I've got a personal vestedinterest in all this in addition
to my official or professionalrole.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, so tell us what the Commonwealth Attorney does.
What are your responsibilitiesof that?
Speaker 4 (07:40):
job.
So essentially we are what manyjurisdictions call the district
attorney.
So my role as the chiefprosecutor for the city of
Chesapeake is to run an officecomprised of approximately 30
prosecutors and another 25 or sosupport staff and our main
statutory responsibilities toprosecute all felonies for the
(08:03):
city of Chesapeake and certainmisdemeanors.
However, we we do prosecute alot more cases than we are
statutorily mandated to take on.
For example, we assign aprosecutor for every DUI case
that occurs in the city and weassign a prosecutor to any case
that originates on schoolproperty or involving a firearm,
(08:24):
things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Okay, so that's sort of sounds like another busy job.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, right.
So school safety is oneveryone's mind.
It is our top priority here atChesapeake Public Schools.
Penny, can you share with ussort of some of the things that
fall under school safety?
Speaker 3 (08:42):
That's a big topic.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
So I had to say, in essence it encompasses
everything from physicalsecurity all the way to social,
emotional security for studentstaff and faculty in our in our
district.
What that means is everything,in every avenue, every
department in our city, there'ssomething to do with safety.
Right, our number one goal isto make sure that our students
(09:04):
and staff have a safe learningenvironment.
So when we look at that, welook at everything from Crime
prevention through environmentaldesign, how schools are set up,
how they're structured, howtraffic flows all the way down
to Do our students feel safe tocome into school and while
they're there for six plus hours, do they feel safe?
Do they have resources in theschool that they can report
(09:25):
situations or incidents to, orany anonymous information that
they may have overheard?
That may they may think isirrelevant, but is Super
important to what we do to makesure that we're stopping
everything in anything before itcomes to fruition.
So in essence, we pretty muchleak into every single avenue.
Our office is extremely busy.
We get called from everythingfrom student enrollment to
(09:49):
school plants, to newconstruction, to consistent
training.
One big piece that our officetakes on is Consistent training
with staff, facultyadministrators, to make sure
that we're doing our duediligence and nothing falls
between the cracks as we look atconsistency efforts as it
relates to safety initiativesthat we've put in place in
Chesapeake right, right.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
And and what do you think that your office has seen
since you've been here for thepast two years?
Or where do you think we havemaybe improved the most, or what
has changed a little bit sinceyou've been here?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I would say the biggest piece is information
sharing and transparency for thethings that we can share.
As you know, safety is justthat in and of itself safety and
we don't.
We don't like to put everythingthat we've done out to the
public Just because it couldcompromise safety, but
everything that we can share, wetry to be as transparent as
possible.
We hold, you know, multipledifferent forums, whether it's
(10:44):
community engagement, joint CityCouncil meetings, where we
share information, our websitesup and running, so there's
information on there as well.
But the biggest I thinkaccomplishment is is making sure
that our practices areconsistent across every single
school.
Historically, when you, when youthink of a school, that
principle is you know the personin charge of that school and,
without any guidance or if wenever started school safety and
(11:06):
school safety initiatives,they're running how they see fit
and in you know, within theirworld, in their realm of
experience.
What we want to make sure iswe're doing everything we can in
our power to make sure we'reupholding the critical
components of safety and we'relooking at all of you know any
and all new initiatives thatcome down after Unfortunate
previous experiences across thenation of catastrophic incidents
(11:29):
.
So we look at all of thosereports, those commissioned
reports, and we make sureanything that you know they may
have recommended or they theythought that could have been
improved or could have preventedthose incidents, we take a real
deep dive into all of thoseReports and then it's our job in
the school safety task force tosay this is what we need to do,
(11:50):
this is what we need to change,and sometimes they're quick
little tweaks of things we canchange.
But the important, keycomponent is making sure our
community, our faculty, ourstaff, our students know what
those changes are and theyuphold them in their buildings
on a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, school vestibules come to mind as
something that must have comeout of that process, right?
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Yes, yes, it's almost in essence make sure that we
have that three-tier safetymechanism in place.
It's that triple locking doorsystem that if someone tries to
enter and gets through the firstDoor, then there's the second
and then there's the third thatis consistently locked, which
Ultimately gives us time.
When we think of school safety,especially in the worst
(12:29):
imaginable case that couldhappen and you're talking school
shootings the biggest factor wefight against isn't you know
when that person is, how quicklywe can resolve the situation.
For us, we fight against time.
When you look at it as a schoolside versus a law enforcement
side, you say what's thecritical component we fight
against is time.
Where do we find the most timeand how can we ensure that our
(12:53):
faculty staff and students havethe most amount of time To get
in a position where we can saveas many, if not all, lives
before police respond?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
right.
So, matt, what's the?
Give us some insight on schoolsafety.
I know what it looks like frominside the school district, but
give us some insight from fromyour side, from the law
enforcement side.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Well, I also want to piggyback on a couple things
that Penny said, because I'vebeen a member of this task force
now going on, I guess, five orsix years and it really is a
multi-disciplinary Team ofindividuals that comprises so
many different city Departments,not just the school system, not
just my office of commonestattorneys, but we've got mental
health folks, we've got EMSfolks that come fire, police,
(13:33):
sheriff's department.
There is a collaboration of, soof the Transportation folks,
the bus, you know, the fleetmanagement.
So many people come together Toprovide input and really take a
lot of time out of theirschedules to be part of this
multi-disciplinary Team and Ithink that, as Penny said, I
(13:54):
think the communication has beenterrific.
But if you look back at what?
When we started this back in2018, we were looking across the
school district and Reallymaking a lot of different like
some basic things, like makingsure lighting outside was fixed
in every area, making sure thesound systems were working every
we're looking at fencing andhow the entrances and the
(14:15):
egresses, how people were comingand going, and making sure that
all of these things were donein a very controlled,
professional manner as well assafe manner.
And then and we have not me butwe that the team has put
together and we've gotclassified documents of
checklists of things that we'vebeen doing over six years and
some of them have been have beenabsolutely amazing.
(14:38):
A lot of them have taken someresources, some money, but it
has been a truly a collaborativeeffort and it is really great
to see because right now thetask force is sort of co-led by
Penny from the school side andBob Geis, one of the deputy city
managers, and you see the fullsupport of both of these teams
(14:59):
and everybody that reportsunderneath them in a truly
symbiotic manner.
And we even have other citycouncil members that that are
members of the task force me asan elected official in the city
and we all bring a lot ofdifferent skill sets to the
table and, as Penny said, we'llalso look at what are things
that are happening, not just inresponse to tragedies, but what
(15:20):
are some of the best practicesand guidance that's coming out
of these things and make surethat we implement them in our.
So we're looking at differenttechnology that we can enhance
whether, if there is an incident, how can we respond to that,
how can we reunify students withtheir families.
We've done live fire exerciseswhere we've had actual shootings
(15:40):
and shut down schools for theday, and we've had police and
fire.
And I've gone, and severalmembers of the task force have
even gone, into the high schoolsto go to actual active shooter
drills with the students andwe've sat there and and some of
the things that the kids are,what our kids have to go through
is so different than what wegrew up thinking about.
Yes, I mean they've got maskingtape, some of them on the floor
(16:01):
where it's like these are killzones, so we got to get behind
the masking tape so that we knowthat if a shooter's shooting in
here we won't get hit.
And the teachers are coming upwith creative ways to protect
their own classrooms in additionto the guidance that we're
trying to put out.
So I think it's important tohighlight a lot of the work that
has gone in truly over the lastfive or six years, and I think
(16:24):
that parents and students shouldfeel very happy and very
positive about all of the thingsthat our school system and our
joint city schools task forcehave done.
And I think there's otherpeople that come from other
school divisions to our taskforce to see how we're doing it
and they will implement, theywill even start task forces
(16:44):
based upon what we're doing, andwe're already six years in and
so, like Penny said, there's,about, you know, a lot of
classified stuff that we can'tdivulge that we're doing, but
people should have a lot ofconfidence that this is a very,
very serious topic.
And one of the last things I'llsay and I don't know if I
answered your question directlyI don't know if you did either,
really, but what you're sayingso interesting, keep going, but
(17:07):
what really has.
I mean, look, when I ran forcity council and then again for
this job, here's what I think,why people live in Chesapeake.
I mean people don't move herefor the nightlife, right?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
I mean let's be honest about that.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
But they move here because we have some of the
absolute greatest schools in thestate.
We also have one of the safestcities in the state, right.
So you're coming here for goodschools and safe streets and if
we don't implement that and makesure that we are bringing that
to every role that we have inthis city, then we're failing
the citizens, and I think thatthis task force is a perfect
(17:42):
example of a symbioticrelationship among some very
good people who have the cityand the students best interests
at heart and, and honestly, forme personally, it's been an
honor to be a part of this taskforce and working alongside
people like Penny, and I thinkthat's what makes the city so
special is we have so manypeople who who just want to work
(18:03):
and serve in the city for theright reasons, and nobody on
this task force cares who getsthe credit, as long as as the
schools are safe and thestudents are safe and that's
really a beautiful thing yeah,everybody on that task force,
regardless of their role, takesthat so seriously, and not
because they don't want to bethe person to drop the ball, but
because they care about kidsand and staff and they care
(18:27):
about safety.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
We see so many tragedies.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I love the fact that we have so much work going on to
avoid, to avoid that yeah, cuzI'm not even sure that the
community really knows thatthere is a school safety task
force that's out there, so it'snice to share that with our
community and let them know thatthere are great things going on
and happening To keep ourschools safe.
Like you said, we can't divulgeeverything right, but there are
(18:52):
a lot of things there thatwe're doing that are best
practices.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Another thing that has come up recently and this is
something I think the taskforce is very proud about is the
relationship with the sheriff'sdepartment and our sheriff and
police department, and I thinkthere were eight Sheriffs
deputies who are now full-timein the schools, adding
additional school resourceofficers to supplement or
compliment the work that ourpolice department is doing.
(19:18):
I mean, that's just a onemicrocosmic example of something
that's come about this year.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That, yeah and I can tell you the principles in the
schools are the beneficiaries ofthat program Absolutely love it
, yeah, and I think it lendsconfidence to parents.
You know, sometimes, especiallyif you have a little one, it's
kind of scary to think you knowthey're gonna be in that school
all day.
And seeing an SRO, seeingsomebody that has safety first,
(19:43):
is, I think, is probablyReassuring for for a lot of
these parents.
I'm gonna come and change thetopic just a little bit, because
part of what we Do in schoolsafety is strictly manage who
comes into the building.
What should a parent who isgonna go to a school that maybe
hasn't been to a school before,what should they know about what
(20:06):
they need to be able to getinto the school and and transact
their business?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
So part of that vestibule process and that
visitor process is just that.
Unfortunately, due to eventsthat have happened across the
nation, we have to be a littlebit more structured and strict
on who we allow in our buildings.
So part of that process is, ifyou plan to visit the building,
know that you will be screenedon a camera first.
There's footprints outside ofevery single camera that you can
(20:30):
stand on.
The school security or schoolresource officer will look at
you.
I mean, obviously we want tomake sure we're doing a visual
check before anyone comes in ourbuildings, they will ask you
for ID.
You have to have a validgovernment issue ID.
They'll ask you to show that inthe camera before they even
buzz you in or allow you in thatbuilding.
Once that's done, they'll buzzyou in.
What we do ask is and I knowthis is this is a hard ask
(20:52):
sometimes and it's even for usas school officials coming in.
I can even tell you oursuperintendent, dr Cotton.
He gets asked for his ID when hecomes to the door and stands
and does the same thing pressesthe intercom button tells his
Another piece is the securityofficer will ask what your
purpose is like how can I helpyou?
Do you have a meeting?
Is it something that we evenhave to?
You know?
Is your visit and tellsomething?
We need to let you come in, orI mean we can even address and
(21:15):
bring your child out to you,right?
Because?
that process can be long andsometimes the lines are long.
Yeah, one one piece we ask isthat as hard as this is, is
there are oftentimes peoplewaiting behind you, right?
So we just ask once you'rebuzzed in, you and your family
unit may be buzzed in, and youall have shown ID and you've
come in and you're in thatsecond tier of safety with the
(21:37):
school security officer in thevestibule, please don't hold
that door for the person behindyou.
It's really hard, but it'salmost like I apologize, but you
have to go through that processfirst and the security officer
will normally tell the nextperson in line.
I'll be with you in a moment,if you can stand on the
footprints, to assist you withthat.
But that's a hard conversationsometimes because we're taught
(21:57):
historically courtesy.
And then, once you're grantedaccess into the vestibule, then
you'll have your ID.
The SS, the security officer wecall them SSOs will take your
ID and they run it throughwhat's known as our raptor
system.
That runs it through the statesex offense registry to make
sure that you're allowed to beon property.
Once that process is done,they'll notify the individual or
(22:21):
individuals who you're there tosee or whatever your need is
for that that moment, and thenthey will come and retrieve you
and then escort you through thebuilding wherever you need to be
.
You'll also get an ID raptorlabel, an ID badge to wear.
Have to wear that on your lapelsomewhere.
The SSO should be taking thelittle sticky tabs off for you
so you can stick it right onthere, because our staffer and
(22:44):
students are also trained ifthey see a stranger in our
building and they they're notaware of who they are or why
they're there they don't have alabel on, then they're directed
to report that to an adult andor the adult will Escort that
individual back to the securityvestibule to go through that
process again and make sure thatthey're there for a legitimate
reason.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, All right.
So we talked in some detailabout the school safety task
force and it looks like fromsome of your plans that you're
trying to get some communityinput.
Tell us about the upcomingschool safety forms.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Well, we have two that are coming.
The first one is scheduled forMarch 20th at Indian River High
School from 530 to 7.
We would encourage anyone andeveryone who's invested children
in the school or not, nochildren in the school If you're
invested in school safety,please come out and join this
forum.
What we will have is a panel ofrepresentatives from different
members of the school safetytask force, so we could have
(23:36):
anyone from police, fire,emergency management, rescue,
state police.
Come with attorneys office,city council's office, we have
school board members, we havesuperintendents, so there's
several people that we couldhave on that panel.
We're still working out thelist, but if you want to know
and see this collaboration inthe works and how it really
comes to fruition, this is agreat place to come and do that,
(23:58):
also to hear about some of thereally great work that we've
done through the school safetyTask force over the last six
years.
Again, we can't divulgeeverything right but you know
many of the pieces that we havedone and that we have put out
prior and anything that we arecurrently working on that we can
share.
We'd like to kind of give anoverview of all of that hard
work that we have done and letthe community know that you know
(24:19):
this is what's really going onin our schools and this these
are pieces that we're doing andputting in place to make sure
that your kiddos have a safelearning environment To come to.
At that form, we will also allowa Q&A.
So if any of our communitymembers parents, families they
want to come and they havequestions about school safety,
something they don't reallyunderstand, questions about some
of the information we put out,that's the time and place to ask
(24:41):
.
We also, more importantly,really want to hear from our
community.
What else can we be doing?
Because, even though we haveall the big, brilliant minds in
the city coming together, weneed that piece.
Yeah, they're the parents.
They hear from their kids.
If you really think about thebrilliant minds, of what's
happening in a school, that's itright.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Right yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Right, we need that input.
If there's something we can bedoing or ideas that parents have
or things that they're hearingfrom their kids like I'm just
not real comfortable at thispart of my day because of these
reasons share with us.
Let us know.
We can bring it back to theschool safety task force.
We can dissect that informationand find out how we can make
life better for our kiddos andour communities and our schools.
(25:21):
That's its purpose.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Right, and let's say a parent can't make the form for
some reason.
Are there community resourcesout there for parents to go to
in the meantime to take a lookand see what's going on?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yes, so my office has a web page that's up and
running.
On that web page there arespecific links to what's called
Report Line, where it'sanonymous reporting.
The way it's worded is for ourkiddos to be able to report to
their administrators anonymously, but anyone can click on that
link and fill it out.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
And do.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
And do yes, right, yes.
So let's talk about something.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
What are you concerned about?
If you can't make the form andyou have questions or you want
to provide just some input orideas, please use that app.
Let us know.
You can choose my office,Office of Safety and Security,
where that report will godirectly to and we can have a
conversation.
I can reach out to you or I canrespond through the let's Talk
app.
We'd be happy to hear that.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
And that link's available, I think, on every
page on our website.
That's right.
Yes, yes, every school has itthere and people are taking
advantage of that.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
And my email address is also on there.
So if you'd rather have a moreprivate conversation or email me
with any questions concerns,you can do that too.
I would prefer the let's Talkapp just because that comes
directly to me quickly and we'reon it every morning, every
morning, first thing in themorning.
Sometimes, you know, emails getinundated.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Right, that's true.
Yeah, that's true, matt.
What do you hope that the taskforce gets out of these forums?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Well, I think it's a lot of what Penny said.
It's a two-way street, right.
I think the main component isnot only an opportunity to
educate the public and theparents and the students on all
the great strides that have beenmade so far.
That's one piece of it, but theother piece is certainly to
have that interaction and toreceive feedback and, as Penny
(27:13):
said, we will take that back tothe task force.
When we first started the taskforce back five or six years ago
in 2018, it was kind of a moreof an ad hoc.
We all came together, all thesedifferent disciplines, and we
really did make a lot of greatstrides and then that kind of
morphed into.
We created subgroups that cameout of it, and so now we have,
like, a physical securitysubgroup, we've got a grant
(27:36):
subgroup, we've got a mentalhealth subgroup.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Communications.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Communication subgroup and training.
So what we've tried to do iswe've made a lot of progress,
but we're now getting to thepoint where and this is an
ongoing thing Right, and justlike how, when you go to the
airport and how life changed forall of us after 9-11, you're
never going to make something100% full proof.
(28:01):
It just is not possible.
Just like you see these massshootings around the country.
But what we can do is be asproactive as we possibly can to
think about in a very deliberateway all of the possible
vulnerabilities that we have andthe things that we need to do
to continue this continuum ofprogress, and I think that that,
(28:23):
for me, is really the mainpurpose of the forum is to give
a little bit of feedback tofolks about these things and
then also receive a lot offeedback about things we may not
be thinking about.
And my biggest concern withforums like this and I see this
when I used to serve on citycouncil too is you don't
oftentimes get the people tocome to these forums that really
(28:45):
need to have the informationand or to provide the
information, and so one of thereasons why I was I'm very happy
to be participating even inthis broadcast with you all is
to get the word out so peoplewill come.
Come provide your feedback, geteducated.
This is not a confrontationalsort of a thing where we're all
(29:05):
in this together, quite frankly,and we're happy to receive
constructive feedback to makethings better, and I think
everybody on that task force isvery receptive to that mindset.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And it really gives you an opportunity.
It's like a whole bunch of neweyes and ears out there, from
perspectives that you may nothave on the task force.
And give us the dates andplaces for those again, penny.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
I know I said the first one, I apologize.
It's March 20th at Indian RiverHigh School from 5.30 to 7.00
PM, and then the second one isMay 22nd at Western Branch High
School, from 5.30 to 7.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
So they're both identical.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
So if you can make, one, you can make the other.
But again, just to piggybackoff what Matt said, it is
critical for us to hear from ourcommunity.
We sit in the chairs becauseand we're in it every day but we
also don't see from the outsideend.
So there's no idea that's toosmall.
There's nothing that would notbe taken and received very well
from this school safety taskforce and the panel members.
We're eager to hear what ourcommunity has to say.
(30:01):
Provide us feedback, please Allright.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Well, I want to say thank you all for shedding a
light on all the things that arehappening with school safety in
a positive way and how we are,like you said, Matt, being
proactive as much as we possiblycan.
Community out there, please.
You heard the call let's getout there to the forum.
We definitely want to hear whatyou have to say, what your
concerns, your feedback, so theschool safety task force can
(30:26):
take that back and move forwardwith all that information.
Thank you all again forparticipating and coming in.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
It's been nice having you.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And we'll see you next time.
Yes, indeed.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com