As students and staff members head back to the classroom this school year, district leaders tell WRTV their top priority is school safety.
"We're always studying what goes on around the nation. We're trying to keep up on what threat trends are happening," Lt. Adam Miller, Carmel Police Department, said.
Lt. Miller runs the school resource officer unit at the Carmel Police Department. In total, 21 school resource officers work in Carmel Clay Schools.
"Unfortunately, over the last couple of years, there has been some horrific school shootings, we spend a lot of time studying those and trying to learn from what happened in those districts to make sure we don't run into the same problems here in Carmel," Lt. Miller said.
One school resource officer works in every Carmel elementary school, middle school and four work at the high school. The unit uses a triad concept meaning they serve as a law enforcement officer, counselor and educator.
The summer is a busy time for the unit. Officers host youth academies and attend training and conferences.
"We hear from people who were at Uvalde, or at some of the other previous shootings around the country, we hear from them personally. So, we can learn," Lt. Miller said.
Every summer, all Carmel Police officers takes part in active threat training while school staff members participate as role players.
"By participating in active shooter training, we identified a need to actually create better interior signage for our schools," David Woodward, Director of Student Services, Carmel Clay Schools said. "A responding officer can actually show up, and we say we have an issue in room 201. They're not looking around to figure out where room 201 is."
Another step being taken to improve safety in Carmel school buildings focuses on upgrading the quantity and quality of surveillance cameras.
"Within our buildings we can track somebody, when they come in, in live, real time, we can follow them and determine exactly where they're going," Woodward said.
Both Decatur and Perry Township leaders tell WRTV the districts are also working on upgrading camera systems to improve school safety.
Perry Township is taking what a district spokeswoman calls a "proactive approach" to keeping students and staff safe.
This fall, a weapons detection system will be in use at both of the district's high schools.
"We're being as proactive as possible. It's just another step and deterrent and another tool in our toolbox for public safety," Patrick Spray, Perry Township Schools Superintendent said.
Officers have also been added to the district's police force.
Decatur Township added a new officer to the Decatur Township Police Force this summer as well.
"So we now have a total of eight. We also use canine searches as well as metal detector wanding both as a random or as needed basis and all of our schools," Emily Lemay, Decatur Township's Director of Student and Family Engagement said.
New this school year, the district has a new new clear backpack policy in place.
"So, the purpose of the policy is to prevent anyone from bringing any unsafe or unnecessary item into our schools," Lemay said.
Beech Grove City Schools is expanding the use of metal detectors to middle school this year.
Tom Gearhart, Beech Grove's Director of Operations said the district started using the metal detectors at busy athletic events and doing random checks at the high school for the first-time last year.
"It went well at the high school last year. So, in an effort to keep our kids safe, that's what we're going to do," Gearhart said.
The district also plans to add a fourth Beech Grove police officer by January.
Throughout the year, Gearhart says professional development and debriefs are ongoing with the focus on school safety.
"They could be anything from across the country, that triggers us to take a look at our own processes and go through them. And look at this didn't go very well there. What can we improve on?” Gearhart said.
He used an example from last spring when the district had pepper spray released in the building forcing an evacuation. After that incident, the district implemented a better communication system where leaders now have defined roles and responsibilities.
For Lt. Miller, in Carmel, the chance to bond with students when they aren't in trouble is what drew him to the unit.
However, keeping more than 16,000 students and more than 2,200 staff members safe comes with a lot of pressure and responsibility.
"We can't always prevent every attack from happening, but our goal is to make sure that we don't have horrible outcomes," Lt. Miller said.
We sent six questions to several school districts regarding their safety and security procedures for the upcoming school year.
Below are the responses received from each school.
Noblesville Schools
We've implemented over 50 safety enhancements since our 2018 school shooting. You can find details on our website here.
We have full time Noblesville Police Department SROs in all of our schools and also use safety dogs to detect firearms and drugs.
We use the ALICE protocol for our safety drills/training.
Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township
Q: Are you able to share whether or not there are new policies or procedures students will need to go through when arriving and leaving school as it relates to safety?
A: No new procedures or policies at this time. Existing ones remain in effect.
Q: Does Lawrence Twp use metal detectors or metal wands daily? If so, what is the policy regarding this? Anything new this year regarding use of these devices?
A: Random searches area conducted daily using metal detectors and wands.
Q: Does the township go through active shooter training? If so who takes part & how often does this take place?
A: Yes
Q: How many school resource officers does the district have & what schools do they work at?
A: Approximately 70
Avon Community School Corporation
Q: Are there any safety upgrades or security changes this year at Avon schools? If so, can you share what any of those changes are?
A: We are constantly analyzing best practices and exploring any upgrades or changes that may be beneficial. We have multiple construction projects going on and each of those projects provides an opportunity for upgrades. Specifically at Avon High School we are widening hallways and expanding other key areas of the school to provide students more space as they navigate the building. While these are necessary to accommodate growth, they also help us provide the safest learning environment possible as we support 3,500 students navigating the school. As a part of our building projects, we are updating classroom door locks and creating plans to expand beyond just those buildings being renovated.
Our focus is to ensure that our staff are trained on key safety vocabulary and how they respond in emergency situations. We will be welcoming about 120 new teachers and they all received training this summer so they are equipped with necessary safety information on day 1 when they welcome students.
Q: Are there any new policies or procedures students will need to go through when arriving and leaving school as it relates to safety?
A: We will be implementing the same arrival and dismissal procedures we have utilized in the past. They have worked very well to keep our students and staff safe.
Q: How does the district deal with threats posted on social media?
A: Social media threats are investigated by our team. If there is concern of criminal threats, our team of school resource officers investigate the threat to ensure our staff and students are safe.
Q: Are metal detectors or metal wands used at schools daily? If so, what is the policy regarding this? Anything new this year regarding use of these devices?
A: No – these are not used daily in our schools.
Q: Does the district go through active shooter training? If so, who takes part & how often does this take place?
A: Our staff participate in various safety training over the course of the school year. These are focused on how staff respond to active threats that could be present in our schools. All school building staff will participate in an active threat drill within the first 90 days of school, and they will participate in a second drill next semester. Our school resource officers participate in additional specialized training throughout the year and collaborate closely with our local police department.
Q: How many school resource officers does the district have & what schools do they work at?
A: We have one School Safety Coordinator and seven SROs who are assigned to our schools. Our schools are all very close in proximity to one another and each school is strategically assigned an SRO.
Anderson Community School Corporation
Q: Are there any safety upgrades or security changes this year at Anderson schools? If so, can you share what any of those changes are?
A: Prior to last school year we, like many school districts in Indiana, implemented Standard Response Protocol [acsc.net]. This includes nationally-recognized training, processes, procedures, and signage that are supported by the Indiana School Safety Specialists Association.
Q: Are there any new policies or procedures students will need to go through when arriving and leaving school as it relates to safety?
A: No.
Q: Are metal detectors or metal wands used at schools daily? If so, what is the policy regarding this? Anything new this year regarding use of these devices?
A: To protect the safety and security of our students and staff we do not publicly share this information.
Q: Does the district go through active shooter training? If so, who takes part & how often does this take place?
A: We regularly partner with the Anderson Police Department to provide school safety training for our school staff and police officers that work in our school buildings.
Q: How many school resource officers does the district have & what schools do they work at?
A: We do not have school resource officers as employees at Anderson Community Schools. However, we work very closely with the Anderson Police Department who provides us with off duty police officers to serve as school resource officers. Starting last school year, we have a school resource officer daily at each of our school buildings.
Zionsville Community Schools
Thank you for your inquiry about our safety practices in ZCS. The first student day is on August 14th.
While we don’t share specific safety details to safeguard and better protect children and adults, we have shared important information and reminders with our families that can be located at the link below. This information was included in both print and digital versions of our back-to-school publications.
School leaders in ZCS and school district law enforcement have been engaged in active shooter training and other safety exercises this summer. We were pleased to have numerous attendees from our community at the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) conference here in Indianapolis. Additionally, members of our school safety team, including myself, will be attending a training with the Boone County Sheriff's Office in Jay County this Thursday. This training is being provided by the US Secret Service National Threat Assessment Team.
