Kalispell schools step up security

With the aftermath of the Dec. 14 elementary school massacre in Connecticut still fresh in their minds, trustees of the Kalispell School Board on Tuesday were briefed about added security measures at Kalispell schools.

Over the Christmas break school administrators reviewed lockdown and safety procedures with the Kalispell Police Department and the Flathead Valley Quick Response Team that includes counselors from 17 area schools.

Most of the procedures are best practices and remain the same in Kalispell Public Schools, but a few changes have been made. One of them is locking more of Flathead High School’s entrances while school is in session. Flathead High School principal Peter Fusaro said people can enter only through the commons area and an east door by the main office.

“We have 25 [doors] on the main annex, five on the wood shop and five on the vocational shop. The wood shop

and vocational shop [entrances] are now locked down. The teacher has to let them [students] in,” Fusaro said.

Kalispell Police Department School Resource Officers Justin Parce and Cory Clarke also advised clearly labeling all the entrances at the school to aid law enforcement. They also reiterated the importance that staff understand lockdown procedures such as using a card system. During a lockdown, staff members are supposed to post cards with particular symbols in specific places to signify to first responders the amount of people inside a classroom, if they’re OK or need medical help.

“The school resource officer is going to be the first to know where the threat is and those cards are going to be very valuable,” Parce said.

Many of the safety improvements are making physical changes to buildings such as changing door locks, Superintendent Darlene Schottle said. Old door locks had to be locked from the outside. The variety of locks also prevented use of a master key.

Currently, the district has replaced 75 percent of door locks to ones that can be locked from the inside. She said police and a staff member at each school will keep master keys. This is important during a lockdown when only law enforcement or school officials are authorized to unlock doors and evacuate people.

Law enforcement is part of the daily routine at Kalispell Public Schools. Parce and Clarke are visible statements about the role of security in modern public schools, the trustees acknowledged.

While the officers’ main offices are in Glacier and Flathead high schools, the fully uniformed officers may seen walking the halls among students in any of the district’s schools.

Is this visibility in the district a deterrent for criminal activity, particularly gun violence in schools? Absolutely, Parce said. Schottle agreed.

“There has never been a school shooting in U.S. history where there’s been an armed police officer on campus,” Parce said.

Trustee Don Murray recalled being resistant to a police presence at school when the officers were assigned in the 1999-2000 school year — the same year of the Columbine school shooting in Colorado in April 1999.

“I was resistant to the idea because it seemed so incongruous to have policemen in schools. I think what convinced me — and what I’ve seen over the years — is that the relationships you build, which translates into the perceptions of young people toward police, have been so impacted by having you in the schools,” Murray said.

Clarke said in addition to enforcing the law at Flathead High, he often acts as an informal counselor.

“I think about keeping the police presence as least obtrusive as possible, keeping the learning environment as safe as we can for the kids,” Clarke said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.