Green Bay Public Schools discuss school safety

GREEN BAY - As President Barack Obama calls for more security for children, school districts are saying that security is a balance.

"It was a tragedy,” said Damien Bass, Green Bay, of the Newtown, Conn. shooting.

Bass, waiting on his 4-year-old son Kahri to be released from Beaumont Elementary School in Green Bay, says he’s aware of the security measures Green Bay public schools have in place. But the extent of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting had him raising questions about its protocols.

“My first initial reaction was, ‘I wonder what kind of security that they had there?’"

In the wake of the Connecticut tragedy, the Green Bay Area Public School District (GBAPSD) is laying out its security measures to ease the concerns of parents.

"You do what you practice and if you practice how to be safe, then there's a better chance that your life may be saved," said Barbara Dorff, the district’s Pupil Services executive director at a press conference Monday morning.

This next week, the district plans on meeting with faculty and staff to review security practices. All 36 schools will practice lockdown drills.

There are three levels of lockdown in the Green Bay public schools.

Schools are on level one for the majority of the day. That means all exterior doors are locked, no one gets in or out of the building without being identified, and teachers teach with their doors closed and locked.

The second level of lockdown means no one gets in or out of the school, students are kept in their classrooms and teachers continue to teach. This is common when there is a possible public safety concern or a crime is committed near a school.

The highest lockdown level doesn’t allow anyone in or out, lights in the school are turned off and students stay locked in their classrooms – lining up along the wall hidden from view in the doorway. There are also panic buttons throughout schools to alert authorities of an emergency.

"I think you should be thinking about school safety,” said Green Bay Police Lt. Todd Le Pine during the press conference at GBAPSD headquarters. “I think everybody in this room should, I think the police should. I think the whole community should be thinking about it. We all have a stake in this."

Meaning parents need to talk to your own kids about security and being safe in schools. Something Bass agrees with. But says there's only so much parents can do.

"I'm pretty sure most parents, if not all, have measures at home that they take,” said Bass. “But, frankly, the fact of the matter is when we send our kids to school we do entrust them with their safety."

Green Bay schools also have ten armed school resource officers throughout the district.
Officers also have universal key fobs to get in the schools.

Green Bay police say as recently as a month ago, officers began walking through schools to get familiar with the buildings. Officers can even pull up school layouts on the computers in their squad cars.