With classes starting up again in Aurora, administrators are looking at school safety, and not just in relation to COVID-19, which took a large amount of the attention of school officials over the last two-and-a-half years.
Instead, they are looking at plans to prevent and respond to any incidents in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting and Highland Park Fourth of July tragedy.
The first full day of student attendance at West Aurora schools was Wednesday. Classes in East Aurora begin this coming Wednesday.
East Aurora School District 131 Superintendent Jennifer Norrell said the Board of Education will vote on Monday on the hiring of six retired Aurora police officers to serve as security monitors who will conduct building safety studies. They will rotate between the elementary schools and perform routine patrols to ensure there are no security vulnerabilities, she said.
East Aurora Safety and Security Manager Kevin Jenkins said the district would have more than 200 years of combined experience between the new security monitors and the two school resource officers for the high school and one officer for the middle schools already in place.
West Aurora School District 129 Safety and Residency Officer Kevin Triplett said the district is putting an emphasis on prevention of incidents this year.
“What is the cause for these tragic events?” Triplett said. “Mainly, its because people aren’t being treated the way they’d want to be treated and I think if we can emphasize creating a welcoming and kinder environment, after time we will start to see less of these things.”
Triplett said the district is partnering with law enforcement agencies for a new initiative called Handle with Care, which lets an officer notify a school after a student is involved in an incident connected to a serious crime, violence or abuse. Then, staff knows to treat the student with care that day, for instance by connecting them to a social worker or just not pushing them as hard in class, he said.
“When you talk about adding security guards or physical deterrents, it puts a lot of eggs in one basket,” West Aurora School District Superintendent Jeff Craig said. “We have a plethora of people, not a lot of security-oriented people, but the 1,800 employees total to a lot of eyes and ears to help keep our school safe. We want to broaden the number of people involved in the security of our students.”
As part of legislation passed in 2019, schools statewide were required to create a threat assessment team and develop protocols to prevent school violence. As part of a new update to the law this summer, schools had to submit their safety plans to the state Regional Office of Education at the start of the school year.
As the COVID-19 pandemic began and closed schools in March 2020, active shooter drills and lockdown rehearsals were put on pause, as students and teachers instead moved to virtual classrooms. As they return, Norrell said the district has to go back and make sure all staff are trained and are actually executing the safety protocols each day.
Jenkins said East Aurora School District is focusing on active assailant training. While they were previously mandated to perform drills once a year, this year they are going to conduct drills each quarter.
At West Aurora, while students were at home during the pandemic, the district sent home a number of safety videos that focused on topics such as fires at home and bicycle safety and even talking to parents about firearm safety, West Aurora Executive Director of Student and Family Services Marti Neahring said.
“We want our parents to be a part of the solution,” Craig said. “Our staff hears a lot and our parents hear a lot, but we need that to come back to us and its important that everyone plays a role. If you see something, say something.”
