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Tuesday, April 5, 2005
Dear Clayton County parent…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a letter Clayton County Superintendent Barbara Pulliam sent on April 1. I suspect it stems at least in part from a recent case at Forest Park High School where a teacher was assaulted. (There’s an earlier thread on this. See ‘One Teacher’s Very Bad Day.’)
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As you know we are concerned about the safety of our students in all of our schools. High school principals and I have met and have talked about the many safety concerns we have concerning our children. On Monday, April 11, as students return to school, they will find some differences in procedures that they will need to follow in our high schools. Our goal is to deter the occurrence of violence involving staff and/or students. We also intend to prevent the presence of drugs and/or weapons on school grounds.
In order to do this, we have proposed the following new procedures for our high school students:
Once students have entered the school building all outside doors to our schools will be locked to prevent entry or unauthorized re-entry into the building. (This procedure will not affect exiting the building.) There will be a main entrance identified at the front of the school so that all visitors and guests will be directed through this entrance. Students who use exits inappropriately may find themselves unable to get back in the school building unless they enter through the front doors of the school.
All visitors/guests to our schools are directed to the main office where they will be given a visitor pass or guest pass if necessary. Students or adults who are found to be in our schools without registering in the front office will be asked to leave the building. If they do not leave the building, they will be treated as trespassers on school property.
We will increase the level of vigilance that we currently have in our schools by doing the following: 1) administrators, teachers and security persons and other volunteers will patrol our halls and grounds during instructional time; 2) all staff and security will be in the halls and around the outside of the building during class changes; 3) all school staff will be in the halls before and after school; and, 4) our schools will conduct locker checks and book bag checks if there is reasonable suspicion of students who may do harm to staff, students, or school property.
In addition, at the April 11 meeting of the Clayton County Board of Education, I will be asking the Board Members to take action regarding the use of canines to assist staff and building security in performing random checks for drugs, alcohol, and other unauthorized paraphernalia. I will also seek the use of metal detector batons to scan students and areas in the inner and outer perimeters of our buildings when there is reasonable suspicion.
It is our hope that the combination of these measures will help reinforce our ability to keep our students safe, our staff safe, and our schools safe. But I must emphasize that the greatest assistance in ensuring a safe learning environment is you, the parent/guardian.
Please have conversations with your student around making good choices; conversations about making good decisions. If they know or have reason to believe that someone is coming to their school or is in their school to do harm to another student or staff member, they should report it to a school administrator immediately. If they have heard conversation about someone who is going to do harm to students or staff in their school, they need to report it to a school administrator at once. And finally, if there is some type of physical altercation in their school, please help them see the wisdom of moving in the opposite direction of the activity. In doing this, they allow staff to get to the site to stop the altercation as quickly as possible.
Students who engage in disruptive behavior in the Clayton County Public Schools will be dealt with per Georgia school laws and the School District’s discipline code and policy. We will apply it consistently and judiciously, but we will not tolerate any behavior that jeopardizes the safety of students and staff.
I would add that if you have any questions about anything that has been stated in this communication, that you contact your child’s principal, and then if necessary feel free to contact my office.
Sincerely,
Barbara M. Pulliam, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools
