School Security: Is It An Issue in Romeoville?

Sad but true: These days, parents have more to worry about when they send their kids off to school than forgotten lunch money and missed homework.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting wasn't the first tragedy of its kind, but it's sparked renewed fears about how safe kids are at school.

On Monday, Valley View School Safety Coordinator Leroy Brown issued a message about school safety, addressing the district's "moral obligation" to keep campuses secure and the role teachers and the community have to play.

Read: VVSD Security Chief: 'Why Should Our Schools Be Safe?'

"Valley View School District is striving to achieve the goal of providing a safe and secure environment for our students, teachers, and visitors through many avenues. The most prominent is having an effective Crisis Management Plan in place. In VVSD not only is there a district crisis management plan, but each school also has a crisis Management Plan which serves as a guideline in the event of an emergency. Within these plans are detailed protocols to follow for bomb threats, bus accidents, an irate person on campus, death at school, fire, missing person, national emergency, weapons use and much more," Brown wrote.

"Experience has a way of providing the value of certain training. Our security personnel are trained in the following: chemical agents, handling difficult people, access control evacuation procedures, communication and its significance, liability and legal aspects, observation and documentation, Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation, Automated External Defibrillator, conscious/unconscious choking, Basic First Aid skills, injury prevention, Crisis Prevention Intervention and public relations."

Last winter, in response to Sandy Hook, Valley View upgraded security in all of its schools by adding buzzer entry systems, panic alarms and intruder lock hardware, in addition to keeping all 22 school offices locked during the school day.

Read: Valley View Adding School Panic Alarms and Other Security Measures

The district also undertook school safety and security audits.

In nearby Plainfield School District, school security is also a priority; recently, officials mulled a proposal to install gun safes to allow school resource officers to keep their rifles on high school campuses. While that plan was ultimately dropped, the district is installing new wireless security systems at all campuses.
 

We want to hear from you:

With the kids heading back to school this week, how concerned are you about their safety? 

Do you think local schools have done enough to make campuses secure? Is there anything else that should be done? 

Do you think additional security measures are a distraction from learning, or are they an unfortunate but necessary fact of life?