School Safety Summit not parents' top priority

A discussion of how to head off violence in schools is attended by about 40 people, many of them school officials.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 20, 2000

INVERNESS -- If there were a single message that organizers of Tuesday's Safety Summit wanted to drive home to parents, it was the importance of being involved not just in their own children's lives but the lives of everyone around them.

If that parent interest is really the key to turning around school violence, then the small number who attended the event at the Inverness Middle School showed there is still a lot of work to be done.

Only about 40 people in the audience, many of them attached to the school district, heard presentations about what important lessons law enforcement and school officials have learned from school shootings and other violence around the country.

The event, organized by School Board member Pat Deutschman and officials from the district and Citrus County Sheriff's Office, was not intentionally set for the week of the first anniversary of the Columbine shootings.

"The sad reality tells us that (these) things do happen, no matter how hard we try," Deutschman said. "I think it's important that we empower all of you to become part of the solution."

She noted that the Citrus schools already have expelled 32 youngsters this year. Many were expelled for alcohol or drugs, but there were weapons charges, too. None involved guns so far this year, but a child did bring a gun to school last year, she told them. Deutschman said there was reason to hope. In one of the cases this year, school officials learned about a child having a weapon because other students reported it.

Overall, however, "The Citrus County school system is a very safe place for you to educate your kids," Citrus Sheriff's Lt. James Martone, who oversees school resource officers, told the group.

At a conference several months ago, Martone met the school resource officer on duty at Columbine High School the day of the fatal shootings. That discussion convinced him that the real efforts to make schools safer don't rest solely in his hands.

Once someone decides to commit a violent act, "There's really not a whole lot anybody can do, even a person with a gun or a badge," Martone said.

Instead, officers, teachers, parents and the community must better identify youngsters who might fit the profile which has been identified in each of the school shootings. These crimes were commited by quiet, male teen students who didn't get much attention because they didn't cause any trouble.

"My message to kids is this: Treat kids the way they want to be treated," Martone said. A positive comment or encouraging statement might make the difference for a troubled youngster.

Martone turned his attention to the small turnout at the Tuesday night event.

"This is pathetic," he said, noting that every week the Sheriff's Office gets calls from parents who want a deputy to come to them and tell them what they can do to get their child turned around because the parent can't reach them anymore.

Parents need to be sure that children are dressed properly for school so if they have to run, they can run. Martone said parents need to visit their children in school, see where their child sits on the bus, get to know their friends and constantly observe what is happening around the child.

"I know it's tough," Martone said, noting that, as a father, he knows that finding time in a busy day to do these things is going to be difficult.

Inverness Middle School principal Cindy Staten explained various safety procedures at the school including drills, identification badges worn by employees and rules about picking up a child. Last year, she said, one of the lock-downs at the school wasn't a drill.

Employees working on the grounds heard gunshots and reported them. The school was immediately locked down and students kept in their classrooms. In that case, an Inverness police officer had shot a suspect on the Rails to Trails pathway which winds around the back of the school's property.

Martone spoke about another kind of drill, a mass casualty drill, which was slated to take place a couple of weeks ago. The drill, which would have involved Citrus High School, Inverness Primary School and Citrus Memorial Hospital, was canceled when organizers realized it would eat up an entire school day. A smaller version of the drill will take place when teachers return to school in August.

Also during the meeting, Inverness Middle principal Mark Klauder told parents how to check out where their children have been on the Internet. He also talked about various filtering programs available to keep their youngsters away from inappropriate Web sites.

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