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Trust, relationships factor in safe schools

The Hawk Eye - 10/4/2018

Oct. 04--Burlington High School students and staff participating in a discussion with The Hawk Eye Wednesday said they feel their greatest assets to school safety are relationships and trust.

The group came together after a series of stories on school safety that were published in The Hawk Eye last month in conjunction with the start of the school year. John Gaines, content coordinator for The Hawk Eye, asked participants to share their thoughts on the subject.

"Your school could be the safest school in the world, but if you don't have a relationship with your teachers and stuff like that, then you're not going to feel safe," said senior Christian Coble, 18, one of two students participating in the discussion. "Even with students, if you build relationships and you're in the same room and there's a lockdown and you can trust your students and your teacher, I feel like it's going to go so much smoother than if you're just by yourself."

Sitting at the table in the Hound Room, a 21st-Century area set up in the second story of the school's library, with Coble were Tom Buckman and John Flaherty, longtime teachers and quadrant leaders for the school's crisis response team; Reggie Shipp, a school administration manager; Duncan Delzell, 16; and Cory Goshman, a parent who started a volunteer parent security group at North Hill Elementary School.

"It takes a village, and we're the village inside the city," Buckman said.

Both Delzell and Coble, who has the words "We the People" tattooed along his right forearm, chose not to participate last year in the walkout in which more than 100 of their fellow students took part to make their voices heard, some advocating for more emergency training for students and others advocating for stricter gun laws. Both said they feel safe at school. For Coble, school safety is about being able to relate with and confide in teachers and other staff.

"I really feel like they're doing a really good job not only with our safety, but with getting to know us," he said, speaking in particular of Jesse Hill, the school resource officer at BHS. "(Hill) is the nicest person you will ever meet. ... He does more than listen, and I feel like that's something a lot of the kids here need."

Shipp, a former correctional officer and hostage negotiator at the Iowa State Penitentiary who chose to switch to a career in education after training other officers in a recidivism reduction program, as well as teaching domestic violence and substance abuse treatment classes to offenders, said those relationships are just as important, if not more so, to staff.

"The greatest safety is our students, because they know a lot more than us," Shipp said. "We're not as cool as them, we're maybe not in, and a lot of our students here want our school to be safe, so a lot of them come to me or any other adult in this building and let us know when something is not right ... and we'll investigate it, we'll take care of it, because ultimately our students here, and staff and parents, everybody wants a safe school, and we've taken a lot of strides to that point. It can always be better, but it's safe."

In addition to building relationships with students, staff participate in ALICE training each year. Shipp, who is working with Hill to update the school's crisis plan, will participate in two trainings this month, one with the Burlington Police Department and the other at the Great Prairie Area Education Agency in Ottumwa.

Coble has noticed efforts by students to keep the school safe. Those wishing to enter the building must be buzzed in through a door near the school's main office. While all other doors remain locked throughout the day, it doesn't stop people from opening them from the inside, something not uncommon among students wanting to help whoever is knocking.

This year, however, he's seen more students refuse to open doors for people, even if they know them.

At North Hill, Goshman isn't seeing quite the response from parents he was hoping for. So far, he is the only VP Protection volunteer. He said parents have been supportive, but he has been unable to find anyone willing to take on the task. He hopes to find volunteers from the VFW.

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(c)2018 The Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa)

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