Bayfield School District families got an e-mail on Dec. 6 from Superintendent Troy Zabel citing student safety concerns.
He wrote, “Over the last few weeks, we’ve noticed an increase of cyberbullying and other social media issues affecting our students. While we feel that Bayfield School District has created a positive culture and climate to teach and learn in, we are all aware that Bayfield isn’t immune to these types of situations.”
District Transportation and Safety Director Jeff Whitmore said the concerns include student suicides in the past couple months in other Southwest Colorado districts and some bullying.
“We’re trying to get out front, give parents tools to talk to their kids,” he said. Kids are never disconnected from social media anymore. “They can’t get away from it,” he said. “It’s new and more intense – what kids see, hear and do online – and (they) don’t really have the tools to feel safe.”
The district is planning a safety night for families in late January or early February. There will be a main presentation and breakout sessions for people to talk about these issues, Whitmore said. It will cover aspects of school safety, how to be safe online and how parents can talk to their kids about school emergency drills. He wants to have fire, law enforcement and mental health representatives in attendance.
He also hopes to have someone from the Safe2Tell program as a speaker. “We love Safe2Tell!!” he said. It was created by the Colorado Attorney General’s office in response to the Columbine High School shootings in 1999.
“My understanding is there were a bunch of kids who knew something was going to happen before it happened,” Whitmore said.
Safe2Tell lets people call anonymously through the Colorado State Patrol Call Central. “A student, parent, staff can call about something they’re concerned about,” and the information will be referred to local law enforcement, he said. “It’s averted a bunch of tragedies.
Asked if things have happened in Bayfield schools to prompt the e-mails to parents, Whitmore said there wasn’t a specific incident. “There have been some individual things that we’ve responded to, to get kids help. I think we do a good job of being proactive.” He cited a conference he attended this year where the message was that if kids feel safe at school, they learn better. “Our goal is safe, high-performing schools,” he said.
Another factor in bringing more community attention to student safety issues is SB 213, the Claire Davis Act, that will take effect in July 2017. It’s named after a student who was killed in a Denver area high school, shot by a fellow student who had made previous threats. It makes school districts liable if they have indications of a threat and don’t act on it and it happens.
Whitmore said, “It doesn’t specifically say what it means to be a safe school, but if something happens that the district knew about in advance, they could lose their governmental immunity. ... We’re trying to get parents involved, to partner with us” to keep kids safe.
On April 10, a staff in-service day, BHS will be the site of a multi-agency mass casualty drill complete with volunteer “victims” in gory makeup, Whitmore said.
