With school starting back this week, both Enterprise and Quitman School Districts have been actively preparing for the return of children and doing everything they can to ensure the safety of all the students.
One of the things they have done is procured extra security for the junior high and high schools.
“We’ve had one student resource officer (SRO) at Quitman for 20 plus years now; for the last two years, we’ve had one at Enterprise,” explained Sheriff Todd Kemp. “As things have escalated throughout the nation, we felt like we needed to add more security at the schools. We felt like we needed officers at both campuses in each district. At Quitman, you have a railroad track between the high school and junior high, so sometimes the train may be in the way for a responding officer to get to the junior high. It’s the same way at Enterprise. That same railroad track runs between the high school and middle school. Therefore, we talked to both school boards. They were all on board and ready to move forward with hiring extra school resource officers. There are a lot of requirements that go into those officers. They have to have at least five years of full time experience, and they have to attend a school resource officer course. All of these officers have many years of experience, and we’re proud we have them at our school locations. We know every parent’s prized possession is their child, and we want to make sure those children are taken care of in the best way we know how.”
Adding additional school resource officers isn’t the only thing that the schools have done to better prepare for the safety of the students. Enterprise School District collaborated with the Department of Homeland Security and completed an active shooter drill to help better prepare the teachers and first responders of what would need to take place in an emergency situation.
“School safety is always our top priority. We can teach them how to read, teach them how to write, and teach them how to do different things; however, if we can’t keep them safe then it defeats the point of what we’re here for. We want to make sure we have schools in our district where our students feel safe and are safe,” declared Enterprise Superintendent Josh Perkins. “Back in March, we had an individual from Homeland Security come and assess our buildings. They went through our whole campus, our buildings, walked through classrooms, and gave us and assessment of our safety. They gave us some points and tips of what we can do to improve some areas and deficiencies. We’ve started on that. We reached out to Homeland Security and started setting up an active shooter drill before the return of school. We held the drill last Friday, and I thought it was a great experience for our staff to be able to experience that and ask questions. It gave them the opportunity to think about different scenarios and think through situations that could occur. I’m thankful for the first responders who took the time to come do the drill. It helps them be more familiar with our buildings, which is good for them.”
They were able to learn a great deal through the drill, and they are working on increasing safety measures in both of the campuses.
“We’ve done a lot of things after the assessment we had in March,” continued Perkins. “We have increased security and trying to have single points of access to our school buildings. We’re working with some fencing in different areas. We’re working with our car rider lines and single access points, and we’ve added a school resource officer. We’re going to continue to assess and add safety features, but it’s a process. We’re just taking the steps that we can to make sure we’re following the policy procedures that we have.”
Like Enterprise, Quitman School District has also been actively taking steps to ensure the safety of the students.
“The safety of our students is our number one priority,” proclaimed Quitman Superintendent Dr. Minnie Dace. “We started last November/December with a threat assessment by Homeland Security and shared a summary report of that with each school. Also, all administrators attended the active shooter drill in Enterprise School District this past Friday.”
Along with collaborating with Homeland Security, the district has made changes to ensure student safety in the buildings.
“We have a policy starting this year where there are no book bags for grades 6-12,”continued Dr. Dace. “All facilities, rooms, and doors will be locked at all times for the safety of everyone. All of our schools have gone through safety training with Eddie Ivy, and all school crisis plans have been updated and discussed. We also added an additional student resource officer in the district.”
The district is also working on doing what they can to have a more effective communication system and safety features for the schools.
“We are in the process of installing a new intercom system in the district and updating and installing surveillance systems in the schools,” informed Dr. Dace. “We are actively pursuing grants that can help improve the safety features in our schools with the doors and all even more, and all administrators will remain in constant and consistent communication with the Sheriff’s Department.”
They are still working closely with Homeland Security and trying to plan their own active shooter drill on one of the campuses in the future.
With all of the changes that the schools are consistently making, parents can feel confident that their children are entering a safe environment to learn this school year.
