Simplified: Sioux Falls' public school buildings scored highly in a safety audit conducted earlier this year, according to data presented to school board members this week. Here's a closer look at what it means and what board members are looking at moving forward.
Why it matters
- The Sioux Falls School District has more than three dozen buildings across town, and with 24,000 kids inside, there are a lot of measures in place to keep everyone safe – many of which are aren't shared publicly, District Security Coordinator Dave Osterquist said.
- In addition to physical security measures, the district has behavioral assessments in place and support for the mental health of students as proactive security measures.
- Osterquist also shared recommendations for improving school security even further – ranging from no-cost solutions like having kids display their IDs to more expensive improvements like a direct line of communication with law enforcement.
"If they're getting that direct notification from us that says, 'We need help, and we need help right now,' that would expedite officers getting to us when we need them," Osterquist said.
Tell me more
Earlier this year, the district reached out to the South Dakota School Safety Center and asked them to conduct a safety assessment of every building in the district.
- Through that process, assessors met with the leadership at each school building and ranked its safety according to seven categories.
Those categories include:
- Security and emergency management
- Security force (i.e. the district's relationship to the Sioux Falls Police Department)
- Entry control
- Fencing and gates
- Parking and barriers
- Building envelope (i.e. the area around the school building)
- Video surveillance.
Here's a look at how the various schools scored along those categories (with corresponding numbers on the X-axis):
The district scored highly due to its close relationship with the police department, video surveillance in place, systems for responding to security issues and entry control. Each building has only a single point of entry and a secured door.
"We're ahead of the curve," Osterquist said, in regards to entry control.
What are areas to improve?
Overall, scores were strong, Osterquist noted. And some of the areas where scores weren't as strong were due to reasons outside of the district's control.
- For example, some of the lower scores related to parking and barriers were due to the school building's proximity to nearby streets.
A couple of the recommendations include:
- Expanding the use of panic buttons, potentially including wearable panic buttons for specific staff,
- Increasing the use of student IDs,
- Adding bollards around playgrounds/school buildings to prevent vehicle access,
- Removing exterior door handles to prevent barricading that could limit evacuation options
- And adding a direct line to Metro Communications to avoid needing to call 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency.
What happens next?
The district is waiting to hear back on a Homeland Security grant that could help increase entry security at Axtell Park, Osterquist said.
