MT. PLEASANT—Safety and wellness will be the main focus areas in the North Sanpete School District this year, Superintendent Nan Ault says.
Most of the elementary schools in the district, along with the middle school, already have “secure-entry” systems. Ault says, where a visitor pushes a buzzer at the front door. A camera projects a video of the visitor to the office staff, and a staff member decides whether to push a button to unlock the door and let the person inside.
The district is doing additional wiring to get the systems working smoothly at all schools below the high-school level, the superintendent said.
Over the summer, the district focused on installing more security cameras in all school buildings. “The high school went from 30 to more like 90,” she said.
Ault said the district has a $15,000 line items in its budget for security cameras. It didn’t increase that budget, but it did dedicate one technical staff member and hire a summer worker to get the cameras wired.
The district has also installed cameras both inside and outside on most of the buses, she said. The cameras can take pictures of cars going around buses that are stopped and have stop signs out, of students boarding a bus and of activity inside a bus. “We are working to install these cameras on all the buses,” Ault says.
Meanwhile, the school contracted with an organization called the I-Love-You- Guys Foundation for protocols and training on dealing with emergencies.
The district now has a standard protocol, boiled down to a chart, which can be hung in schools and is viewable on the district website, that tells students and adults what to do in various situations. (To see the chart, click the icon for “Student Safety” on the left side of the home page.)
“It doesn’t have to be a shooting,” Ault says.
The protocol talks about actions such as “hold” when there is a safety concern in the hallways; “secure” when there is a threat outside the school; “lockdown” when there is an active threat or dangerous incident at the school; and “evacuate” in the event of a bomb threat or hazardous materials spill.
She said North Sanpete schools would practice the pro- tocol throughout the coming year. “We want to talk the same language and understand it in the same way—parents, students and staff—so we’re all acting in the same way, and it’s pretty routine for us.”
On Aug. 8, a reunification training was held a Mt. Pleasant Elementary involving staff, first responders and community members where everyone practiced how students would be connected with parents if the school had to be evacuated for any reason. Ault says the district hopes to have similar exercises at other schools.
Finally, about a week before school started, trainers from the I-Love-You-Guys Foundation presented seminars for North Sanpete administrators and counselors on Comprehensive Student Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG). The guidelines are also posted on the district website.
The guidelines help administrators, counselors, teachers and others identify students who may pose a threat to themselves or others and assess the seriousness of the danger.
To promote wellness “for all students and teachers,” Ault says, the district has set up a team led by O’Dee Hansen, the assistant superintendent. The team includes the school social worker, school psychologist and all school counselors.
The team directs a two-pronged program. Part of the program is education in emotional health. Counselors go into classrooms and talk about topics such as prevention of bullying and “mindfulness,” or relaxation practices to help students de-escalate when their emotions start getting out of control.
The other piece is working with individual students and families who are struggling. The social worker might visit with parents and the student in the home. Counselors might participate in special education planning or discipline meetings.
“We have great counselors,” Ault said. “They know how to go in and just talk to these students….It really is focusing on the individual students and trying to get them to the finish line;” in other words, graduation.
