By Michael Howell
In 2013, the Montana Legislature passed Senate Bill 348, sponsored by Senator Fred Thomas (R-Stevensville), allowing local school districts to transfer funds from any budgeted or non-budgeted fund, other than the debt service fund or retirement fund, to its building reserve fund to cover costs of security upgrades. The intent was to increase the flexibility and efficiency of school districts without an increase in local taxes. The law also restricts the school districts from increasing any non-voting levies for the purpose of restoring those funds. The law is set to expire in July, 2015.
Stevensville School District Superintendent David Whitesell invited local legislators to come and see what Stevensville was able to do under the provisions of that law and push for, if not an indefinite extension, at least a two year extension to 2017. Senator Fred Thomas has already drafted a bill extending the law for two more years and plans to introduce it in the upcoming session.
Senator Thomas said that he was motivated to pass the legislation because he believed a lot of wrong things could come in response to the Sandy Hook school shooting, like some misguided attempt to pass gun legislation. So instead he decided it was best to just go to the schools and see what the needs were. He said the Montana School Board Association helped figure out how to fund the improvements without raising taxes.
Whitesell said that by transferring funds from the adult education program, the school bus depreciation fund and the transportation fund, the district was able to spend $215,775 on security upgrades. The cost breakdown was $1,678 for improved access control, $1,101.50 for cameras, $12,299.08 for door access improvements, $1,386.08 for locks, $145,000 for a public address system, $48,315.95 for radios and $5,994.77 for a School Resource Officer.
Whitesell said that prior to these upgrades the school did not have a campus wide intercom system. The system was disconnected between buildings, but that is no longer the case. He said a teacher or administrator anywhere on campus can now initiate a lockdown immediately at the push of a button. The PA system extends to the playground, to the shops, the bathrooms and the hallways.
Another valuable security asset was the purchase of radios that can operate even if cell phone use is disrupted. He said that all supervisors and administrators have a radio, people on the playground have radios and P.E. teachers all have radios.
“When it comes to an armed intruder or any scenario of that type, we have communication,” he said.
Besides being in communication the staff is also being trained in the latest tactics, including how to take down an armed intruder in a worse case scenario.
“We have learned a lot from Sandy Hook and other incidences,” said Whitesell. “We are not just going to crawl into corners and duck.”
“Teachers typically like to have things scripted for them,” he said. “But this type of incident can’t be scripted. In some cases we are going to have to improvise, like the Marine Corps does. The reality of it is, we are the first responders.”
School Resource Officer Sam Fawsett said that the typical response time for back-up law enforcement in Ravalli County was seven to eight minutes, while the typical armed intruder incident is over in about three minutes.
“That’s when armed intruder tactics come into play,” said Whitesell. “Our teachers have learned gun take-away tactics and how to use different things available in the classroom to disarm someone.” He said they are also getting some combat medical training, as well as training in how to build an effective barricade.
Fawsett said that schools in Hamilton and Corvallis are doing similar upgrades and undertaking similar tactical training. He said Darby and Trapper Creek Job Corps Center were also on track and a similar training program was in the works in Florence. The eight hour long training course is being offered by the Safariland Group.
“When the crisis we are responding to occurred somewhere else, doing this kind of prevention work is not very sexy,” said Senator Thomas. “But hopefully it is something we never read about in the sense of actually having a problem here. For me, I am delighted to hear what you’re talking about. I couldn’t be happier, because it seems like you embraced it.”