Falls school board moving ahead with safety measures post-Sandy Hook

“I’m all for it,” said board member Mike Holden of the proposed safety measures he’d heard.

The board hopes to improve safety inside and out of the high school building in particular. It was designed decades ago as a community gathering place, Superintendent Nordy Nelson said.

Board member Willi Kostiuk, a retired police investigator and tactical response team leader, has been organizing much of the Fall’s response together with Nelson and district Safety Director Jeff Veeder and others.

“I’d really like to see what you want me to do,” Veeder said to the board in looking for direct guidance.

They have no total cost estimates yet since leaders are still trying to find out exactly what is needed/wanted.

Kostiuk reiterated that he doesn’t want the schools to look and feel like prisons, just make them much safer. He also said about 80 percent of the calls he received are in favor of doing what they can.

The most popular idea so far is to have an armed, full-time juvenile police officer in the schools, leaders said.

That officer could not only patrol the hallways, but also address other problems (the schools currently have a part-time juvenile officer).

Kostiuk added he wants to bring in Northland Counseling Center somehow. They should explore the “preventative side of the problem,” whether it be the bullied, bully and mentally ill or otherwise challenged.

“We’re hearing from folks they are willing to levy,” Kostiuk also said.

The session followed a Feb. 25 public safety forum for the community in which parents, staff and teachers proffered suggestions. Many more people have called, emailed or stopped board members in town with ideas, a few said.

One concern that seems to be slipping away is that fortifying the school will be a dramatic inconvenience to students and parents. But going so far as to install metal detectors has not gained traction either.

On Monday, board members Holden, Gordon Dault and Dena Wenberg joined Kostiuk and Nelson in reviewing suggestions then trying to determine what can be done, how fast and at what cost. The two principals of the schools and and other administrators also took a keen interest in the meeting.

Kostiuk and Veeder said they’re already working on some plans that can be instituted quickly and for as little as several thousand dollars each. The initiatives would beef up the schools main entrances with more cameras, buzzer entrances and panic alarms.

The idea is to have a office staff monitoring the entrances live and decided whom to let in based on a set of criteria they’ll later decide upon, they said.

School officials said a longer-term goal is to block off the other main doors, except for two, and replacing them with metal walls. The plan is to close off all doors to outsiders after 8:30 a.m. Anyone who wants to get in would have to enter a vestibule area, state their purpose to someone watching a screen and then be allowed inside or turned away.

Dault said he doesn’t want to wait to make those improvements.

West End and Falls Elementary Principal Melissa Tate also pushed for solutions as far as creating electronic key cards that double as ID’s, called fobs, to allow staff to bring students not locked down in their classrooms to safe havens such as the gyms or bathrooms.

The idea of all-access keys with picture identification on them appeared to be a no-brainer among most of those at the meeting.

One benefit, Kostiuk said, is so students can know who to safely approach if there’s an emergency.

“What happens if the individual takes a fob away from someone and has access everywhere,” said Susan Karsnia, district administrative assistant, to “play devil’s advocate.”

It’s a risk, but the upside is better, Kostiuk said.

One thing they’ll try to fix right away is to install locks that work from the inside for all doors, which is already underway.

Kostiuk also is no stranger to making the Falls’ three public schools safer. To date, he’s already led efforts to train police in “active shooting” scenarios while familiarizing themselves with the schools’ layouts.

He’s also worked to install more cameras in the high school and put up concrete pillars outside Falls Elementary School so someone can’t crash his or her vehicle through the doors and bypass security, which was done in the Red Lake, Minn., shootings.

School officials also said that one of the complications is that moving forward right away might mean that the state would not reimburse the district for some of the new safety measures.

Nelson said he believes lawmakers will grant schools some leeway considering the magnitude today of the growing issue.

Kostiuk also said he’s been researching survivor recounts of school shootings to help discover what measures to institute. For instance, he said panic buttons similar to those found in banks are there for more than just fast and silent responses (Although a panic alarm hit in the schools would set off a “code red” lockdown initiative and spring dozens of staffers into action and bring police to the building within minutes).

“If you look back at a lot of those school shootings, people lose a lot of their motor skills, and it’s difficult for them to even dial 911,” Kostiuk said.

He added that often the office is the first target of a shooter. So is an armed officer. That doesn’t detract from their effectiveness, though, he said.

Kostiuk said he’s already spoken with Mayor Bob Anderson and Police Chief Mike Musich about having an officer in the schools, and they were considering the idea. He added that there may be some outside funds to help, too, soon.

Board members and administrators also discussed how to implement security details during evening sporting events. Officers already are at many of the games, Musich has said.

“Historically most school shootings happen during the day, but that’s not to say it can’t happen during a basketball game,” Veeder said.

At the end of the meeting, organizers said they will have some of the initial planning and items on the agenda as soon as the next board meeting Monday. Kostiuk also suggested contacting other Minnesota schools to see what is working for them.

Whatever they decide, Kostiuk said they need to do a good job of keeping parents and the community involved and up to date.

“This will all be time consuming, too,” Kostiuk noted.

There’s no question it’s also worth it, he and others agreed.