Arming school staff is an idea that's being discussed nationwide, but the heads of two local police departments aren't so sure it would work.
"It's difficult - to be honest - for Chief Coriz and I to wrap our heads around," Chief Kirk Phillips of the Ignacio Police Department said of the concept.
Phillips and Chief Ray Coriz of the Southern Ute Police Department discussed school safety on Thursday evening with Ignacio School Board members during their March meeting.
Having a trained safety professional in schools "is probably the most safe alternative for school safety," Coriz said.
The chiefs have met with school administrators and other agencies over the past six weeks, Phillips said, adding that agencies now have remote video access to Ignacio school campuses. Other recent improvements to school security include training for all staff members about how to respond during the first five minutes of a school shooting, Phillips added.
He also hopes to have an active shooter drill on an Ignacio campus sometime in the next six months. The department and schools also are partnering on re-unification training, Phillips said.
School staff have appreciated the partnerships with local agencies, said Superintendent Rocco Fuschetto, who also thanked officers from both agencies for helping provide security during the regional basketball tournaments in Ignacio on March 2 and 3. Coaches and parents from other schools complimented his staff on how smoothly the tournament went, Fuschetto added.
School staff did a good job in hosting the regionals, added Kelly McCaw, the board president.
Another topic of discussion between board members and staff was the walkouts by students on March 14 to honor the victims of the Florida school shooting on Feb. 14.
Chris deKay, the principal at Ignacio Middle School, said he wasn't sure that morning if any of his students wanted to leave the classroom or not.
One student asked if he could, then went to the flagpole and stood solemnly, deKay said. A few other students went out to join him, and deKay said he decided to announce that students could go outside if they wanted, and about half of the school's students went outside by the flagpole to stand silently.
"It was amazing," he said. "The kids were pretty respectful about it."
He joked that he was surprised students were "completely quiet and still" for 15 minutes. The school also is planning some events on April 20 to commemorate school violence.
At Ignacio High School, Principal Melanie Taylor said she left the choice up to the students if they wanted to walk out of class.
"They're young adults," she said.
That message didn't sit well with Yvonne Chapman, the board's vice president, who noted that if she walked off her job for 17 minutes, there would be repercussions.
"This was disrespectful to the parents," who didn't know the event was going to take place, Chapman said. Taking school time for students to protest on school property "is a slippery slope," she added.
Taylor said she viewed the event as "compassion for people who have passed away." Several students had told her they wanted to take a stand against school violence.
In other action, the board approved raising prices for school meals by 25 cents per lunch.
The board also welcomed a new finance director to the district LuCinda Lounge.
