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03/02/2018 02:56 PMIn the wake of the February 14 high school shooting in Parkland, FL which left 17 dead, Branford public school parents and students have been bringing their concerns and questions to the district's central office and at meetings of the Board of Education (BOE). Another input opportunity will take place on March 14 during a BOE committee meeting.
Most recently, at the Feb. 28 full BOE meeting, BOE student representative and Branford High School (BHS) senior GianCarlo Giannini gave a moving description of how he and other students at BHS have been coping with fears following the Florida school shooting; saying, at one point, "...kids are scared."
"There is a general fear at the high school right now. I know personally...me and many of my friends were scared to come to school for multiple days; hundreds of people I knew weren't at the school multiple days after the shooting. Everyone was scared," Giannini told the BOE.
Noting BHS had a lock-down drill with students scheduled for the next day (March 1), Giannini added, "I and my friends feel like we're still not prepared; and we're not addressing everything."
Giannini's concerns, and those of parents and another student who spoke at the Feb. 28 full BOE meeting, were sent out live via the school district's live-streaming video at the district website here. Live-stream videos are then archived at the site, together with a video library of past BOE committee meetings and other district informational meetings.
Several of the comments given by both parents and students expressed worries about the safety of students and questions on security strategies, communication, lockdown drills, and other plans in place, especially at Walsh Intermediate School and BHS.
Parents also voiced concerned at the Feb. 21 BOE Communications Committee meeting, with some asking for more information to be shared by the schools with parents. Next, the BOE will put aside at least an hour to hear more comments on Wed., March 14 at Branford High School (BHS) as a segment of the next BOE Communications Committee meeting.
While the committee normally meets at 6 p.m. in the BHS Lower Media Center, the BOE plans to set aside a specific hour within the committee meeting for the safety and security discussion; with the time to be set and announced soon. The district will use its Infinite Campus online notification system to alert parents to the time, and will also post it on the school district website here in advance of March 14, said Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez at the Feb. 28 BOE meeting.
By board policy, BOE meetings are business meetings which don't allow the board time to respond to public comments. The input is taken into consideration for possible action by the Superintendent, committees or the full board. However, parents pushed for better communication and a clearer understanding of what the school district is doing to keep kids safe.
"I know, as parent, I want to know," Hernandez acknowledged at the Feb. 28 meeting. "But I also know, 'Do I have a need to know every particular piece?' But I think we can do a better job explaining some of the [systems] we have in place."
In addition to the Feb. 14 Florida school shooting, parents and students were unnerved to learn, via communications sent from the district, about a juvenile trespassing incident which had taken place at BHS on Feb. 15 and was quickly resolved by Branford Police working with the district. As previoulsy reported, no threat had occured to students or staff. See the story here
On Feb. 28, Hernandez also told the parents and students who came out to the meeting that "safety of students is paramount" and shared some of his thoughts on what he'd heard that night.
"When students are verbalizing they don't feel safe, that's unsettling; but we need to strive to reassure them," said Hernandez. "Because I do believe we do have a safe school district. That does not mean that bad things can't happen. I don't have my head in the sand."
In addition to reviewing school security and safety precautions and practices, BOE chair Michael Krause noted on Feb. 28 the BOE was voting that night to approve a recommended 2018-19 schools budget with some additional security measures built in.
"There is additional security we're going to be looking at, at Walsh Intermediate School in particular; so that was one of the items that the superintendent did propose to the board," said Krause.
The budgeted WIS item adds an additional security officer to the school for the 2018-19 school year, to accommodate the changes that will be taking place inside and outside the building as construction for the WIS expansion and renovation school building project starts this summer and continues for the next two years.