Hundreds of people packed into Hamilton Southeastern High School’s Leonard Auditorium Wednesday night for a look at what the City of Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools have been doing and plan to do in the future about school safety. The officials presenting the forum had an important message: School safety was an important issue before the Noblesville school shooting and will continue to be an important issue going forward.
HSE School Superintendent Allen Bourff told the audience the school corporation and the City of Fishers will be working toward expanding the number School Resource Officers, sworn police officers, in HSE school buildings. Bourff said officers must be trained and the money must be set aside, but “expansion will be coming very soon.”
Dr. Bourff and Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness hosted the forum. Panel members included Fishers High School Assistant Principal Ryan Taylor, Inclusion Officer Erica Buchanan-Rivera, Assistant Superintendent Mike Beresford, HSE Mental Health Coordinator Brooke Lawson, Fishers Police Chief Mitch Thompson and School Resource Officer Mike Johnson.
Audience members wrote down questions and the panel fielded as many as time allowed.
Here are some of the issues and questions raised at the forum and responses by panel members:
What about metal detectors at entrances to schools?
Dr. Bourff: The first issue is finance, how would you pay for such a security system, with the number of doors used to enter the buildings? Also, there is a logistical challenge to processing 3,200-3,300 students in 15-20 minutes. It’s not just the cost of the metal detectors, but each metal detector would need to be staffed, resulting in increased labor costs. Those issues must be overcome to implement such a security system. There is some research indicating students can work around those metal detectors, although technology is improving.
What about arming teachers?
Dr. Bourff: “We do have well-trained armed personnel in our buildings every day, our SROs (School Resource Officers). We are concerned that we would have the level of preparation necessary under stressful situations for our staff to be successful. It’s very difficult even for our armed professionals to provide that accuracy under stressful circumstances.
What about the responsibility of gun owners securing their firearms when not in use?
Police Chief Thompson: A friend told the chief that if a child takes an action with a gun the child obtained from their parents, authorities should charge the parent with the same crime, then maybe, finally, people would start to secure their weapons. The chief then explained how often people keep guns in their cars unsecured and report those guns as stolen.
Dr. Bourff said all questions and answers from the forum, even those that were not addressed during the event, will be posted online.
The main message from those speaking at this forum is that school safety is a top priority for the city and school corporation, and has been for many years.