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Campus Safety: What's Next for Darlington School?
Nov 12, 2013 11:30 AM
By Tannika King - Faculty
The recent passing of the ELOST in Rome and Floyd County by 4,710 votes ensures that Rome City Schools and Floyd County Schools systems will see security upgrades (and a long list of other priorities) funded, thanks to the extension of the 1% education local option sales tax. Of the $70 million expected to be collected through the ELOST over the next five years, Rome City Schools expects to spend $2.5 million on security and technology upgrades while Floyd County Schools plans to spend $3.17 million on security alone.
With the apparent rise in school shootings and the media attention surrounding tragedies on school campuses during the last decade, it is no wonder that schools all over the country are putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to campus safety. Darlington School is no different. After all, the National Association of Independent Schools consistently reports that safety is the No. 1 reason parents choose to send their children to independent schools.
Here at Darlington, we take our obligation to protect the members of our school community very seriously. The Campus Safety and Procedures Committee, appointed last winter after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, has been working diligently on its mission to ensure a healthy and safe environment for all students, faculty, staff and visitors to our campus by focusing on education, communication and safe practices.
Just last month, the committee brought in Scotty Hancock, director of the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency, and his team to do a training exercise with the entire faculty and staff. Employees spent half of a professional development day doing what Scotty calls a "tabletop exercise" -- talking through what the school's response would be to a mock scenario here on campus. Our teachers and staff members were overwhelmingly appreciative of the exercise and many shared that it was one of the best emergency preparedness activities Darlington has done to date. We look forward to doing more of these types of activities in the future.
Additionally, the school will bring security consulting firm Draco Group of Atlanta, Ga., on campus Jan. 12-17, 2014, to do a comprehensive assessment. They will start with a thorough survey of the entire campus grounds, all of the buildings and routine campus life. Draco will then then evaluate the school's emergency procedures and develop a comprehensive security and safety design for the school that includes the following:
1. Recommendations for physical security and safety equipment
2. Protocols for minimizing the changes and/or impact of emergency
3. Drills that prepare the community for fast response
4. A thorough understanding of the vulnerabilities to both threat without intent (i.e. extreme weather or accidents) as well as threat with intent (i.e. human threats) within the Darlington Community
The final report will provide Darlington with a working model that can be implemented in part or in whole over time and according to available resources. The model will lay out short-term and long-term security and safety goals and offer a guidelines for working toward a fully comprehensive program.
We look forward to bringing Draco back on campus in January to assist us as we work toward the safest possible Darlington School for our students, faculty and staff, and visitors. We will have more to report after their time on campus, so please stay tuned!
With the apparent rise in school shootings and the media attention surrounding tragedies on school campuses during the last decade, it is no wonder that schools all over the country are putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to campus safety. Darlington School is no different. After all, the National Association of Independent Schools consistently reports that safety is the No. 1 reason parents choose to send their children to independent schools.
Here at Darlington, we take our obligation to protect the members of our school community very seriously. The Campus Safety and Procedures Committee, appointed last winter after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, has been working diligently on its mission to ensure a healthy and safe environment for all students, faculty, staff and visitors to our campus by focusing on education, communication and safe practices.
Just last month, the committee brought in Scotty Hancock, director of the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency, and his team to do a training exercise with the entire faculty and staff. Employees spent half of a professional development day doing what Scotty calls a "tabletop exercise" -- talking through what the school's response would be to a mock scenario here on campus. Our teachers and staff members were overwhelmingly appreciative of the exercise and many shared that it was one of the best emergency preparedness activities Darlington has done to date. We look forward to doing more of these types of activities in the future.
Additionally, the school will bring security consulting firm Draco Group of Atlanta, Ga., on campus Jan. 12-17, 2014, to do a comprehensive assessment. They will start with a thorough survey of the entire campus grounds, all of the buildings and routine campus life. Draco will then then evaluate the school's emergency procedures and develop a comprehensive security and safety design for the school that includes the following:
1. Recommendations for physical security and safety equipment
2. Protocols for minimizing the changes and/or impact of emergency
3. Drills that prepare the community for fast response
4. A thorough understanding of the vulnerabilities to both threat without intent (i.e. extreme weather or accidents) as well as threat with intent (i.e. human threats) within the Darlington Community
The final report will provide Darlington with a working model that can be implemented in part or in whole over time and according to available resources. The model will lay out short-term and long-term security and safety goals and offer a guidelines for working toward a fully comprehensive program.
We look forward to bringing Draco back on campus in January to assist us as we work toward the safest possible Darlington School for our students, faculty and staff, and visitors. We will have more to report after their time on campus, so please stay tuned!
