By Dar Danielson (Radio Iowa)
The Chief of the Governor’s School Safety Bureau says they have been doing a lot of training of school staff, law enforcement and first responders on how to handle incidents at schools.
Matt Anderson says they’ve also been getting emergency radios to school districts. “Twelve-hundred-53 radios, emergency radios were installed in our schools that came at a price tag of $4.5 million to get that done. But it is important,” Anderson says. He says they’re in a second round of getting radios installed and have more than 100 schools who have asked for them.
Anderson talked about the issue in and update to the State Board of Education, and says they are working to meet the requirements of the school safety bill. “House File 26-52 is actually mandating that these schools, public and private, be able to at least access a communication center through Emergency Coordination,” he says. “So the second phase that we’re working on right now with that is one one-point-two million has been set aside to fund that and make sure that we provide that communication ability to all our schools.”
They also are helping schools with “Safe and Sound Iowa.” “This is an anonymous reporting app. It’s free. It is accessible every day of the week, 24/7, 365, you can you can communicate directly with the dispatch center,” Anderson says. The dispatch center then moves forward on the tip, which may include calling him if needed. He says this is an important part of preventing school violence. “We know that in 80% of our mass shooting events there was somebody that knew of the event. So if we can get to where these reports are coming in ahead of time, it actually gives us a chance to respond to them and prevent them from happening,” he says.
Anderson says they have responded to several tips. “Last year’s stats, 300 total tips came in to the system of those …. assault and bodily injury, school safety, suicide, weapons, drugs, planned, school attacks and abuse,” Anderson says. He says one problem has been false tips designed to get a response. “Unfortunately right now with social media we are seeing a trend that way. It’s almost a challenge just to get it out there and see how far it spreads,” Anderson says.
Anderson says 32 percent of schools are using the state app, while several other districts are using another app to do the same thing. Anderson was asked if having metal detectors at school doorways was a good deterrent. “If you have the money to buy the machines, if you have the staffing to run those and then to able to get your students in and out of classes on a timely basis and everything. I mean…that’s a very sensitive issue as far as how do you spend your dollars, and is this the best way to,” he says. Anderson says he believes having a police presence at schools does serve as a deterrent.
