The school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14 cast a heavy shadow on the Dec. 17 Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corporation school board meeting, for which all members were present.
RBBCSC Superintendent Steven Kain read a statement he had sent to the press earlier in the day regarding the school corporation’s safeguards against similar scenarios, which is published in its entirety elsewhere in The Journal.
“The sad thing about this is if someone really wants to do this kind of thing, they can do it,” Kain said, noting that a motivated individual would find a way. “It doesn’t matter what kind of procedures we have in place.”
School Board Secretary Dana Kerr expressed his condolences to the families in Newtown before praising RBBCSC for the measures each school takes to keep students safe from potential outside threats. Schools require that visitors sign in at the front desk, wear a visitor tag, and get buzzed through certain doors by staff members.
“The renovations at the junior high and the high school have made great strides in providing additional safety there,” Kerr said. “That safety is already in place at the other schools. With the addition of a foyer vestibule out in front of Stinesville, we also increased security there. I think our buildings are very secure.” Acknowledging the staff, Kerr continued, “I think our staff is very well trained and very caring and would do what they would have to do to protect our students.”
Jimmie Durnil, vice president of the school board, spoke of the Connecticut State Troopers that responded to the shooting.
“I’m signed up with a national association that keeps you advised on what the police officers are going through, and the Connecticut State Troopers that responded to that, I can’t imagine what they went through. I read it. I’m going to have to read it again to digest it.”
School Board President Randy Wright spoke of loss and the weight of the season.
“One thing we’ve got to remember is those in our family and community have lost members themselves,” he said. “November and the first of December have been really tough for this community. It’s a heavy season for a lot of people, and this happens. It weighs even heavier. And then we come down to our little community here – we have to listen to our children, we have to protect our children, and we must intervene with our children.”
At the beginning of the meeting, Jerry Pittsford gave the board an update on the activities of the newly formed anti-bullying task force, for which Pittsford is chair.
The task force met for the first time on Dec. 10. At that meeting, it sought to define the purpose of the group and what outcomes it could expect to result from the activities of the task force.
The purpose of the group is to define bullying so that everyone can understand what it is, not just teachers and administrators, and then to assess the pervasiveness of the issue in the school, the prevention techniques in place and possible ways to improve upon them, and the response to issues that arise.
“It is my hope as chair of this task force that we have a deadline that’s not far off in the future,” Pittsford said. “I think that the faster we move, the better off we will be. Quite honestly, I would hate to think that this would become a standing committee because that would mean we’re not doing anything to rectify the problem.”
The chair went on to say that the entire spectrum of issues concerning bullying is the current focus of the anti-bullying task force, but that may narrow as the group moves forward and learns more about the specific issues faced by RBBCSC schools. He noted that the ultimate goal of the task force is to prepare a single report that covers all aspects of bullying and makes recommendations to the board based on the task force’s findings.
“Frequently, we stand inside the school walls and look at what’s going on in there, without ever looking at the school with the eyes of somebody outside the school walls,” Pittsford said. “I think the response of my students was kind of surprising when I said to them, ‘You all have seen news reports about your school now. Did you recognize that school? The school that they reported on, is that the school you attend every day?’ And the majority of my students said, ‘No. That’s not who we are.'”
Pittsford said the junior high school, nor any other RBBCSC school, must not become that school reported on in the media.
The report of the anti-bullying task force was a summation of the intentions and methodologies of the task force going forward. The next meeting of that group will occur on Jan. 7, at which point, it will set a date for a public forum that will seek to collect data from community members.
The use of accrued vacation hours by non-certified staff during the week of Christmas 2012 was approved 5-0 by the school board after some discussion on the schools’ needs for staff during the period and the staff’s desire for vacation time during winter break.
The school board approved the Edgewood Junior High School band trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, 5-0.
Kain announced that Peoples State Bank won the bid for the school corporation’s tax warranties with a bid of 1.2% interest.
Kerr disputed a provision of the new wellness policy, which stated that recess shall not be taken away as punishment for students. He said that teachers were already limited in what they could do to punish students, so placing more limitations on them was not desirable.
Wright and board member Debra Walcott agreed, with Walcott noting that hyperactive students who need to burn energy will likely be the ones taken out of recess.
Kain said he would review the disciplinary practices at the schools and report back to the board at the next meeting.
Regina Burns presented a check for $1,000 to Micah Mobley for The Edge alternative school at Edgewood High School, for which Mobley is director, in memory of her son, Andy Burns. Of that, $500 was donated by the Edgewood Primary School Parent Teacher Organization and another $500 was given by Edgewood Primary School faculty and staff.
The next meeting of the RBBCSC school board will take place at the School Services Building at 7 p.m. Jan. 22.
Originally published in Ellettsville Journal, 2012. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.