Should Wake end off-campus lunch for students? Audit says it would make schools safer
A security consultant recommends that the Wake County school system consider ending the longstanding practice of allowing high school students to go off campus for lunch.
The Florida-based School Safety Advocacy Council has presented an executive summary of the security audit it conducted of the district and of individual schools. One of the areas that the consultants say should be reviewed is how many high schools allow students to leave campus for part of the day for lunch.
“While the School Safety Advocacy Council does recommend that all schools maintain a closed campus policy for high schools, the Wake County School District would be best served to explore this policy in the future with key district staff, the Wake County School Board, and the broader community,” according to the executive summary.
Most of Wake’s high schools allow students, usually juniors and seniors, to have off-campus lunch because of concerns that the cafeterias would be too crowded. Wake briefly suspended off-campus lunch due to COVID-19 concerns when high school students returned for in-person instruction in February.
Ending off-campus lunch would be unpopular with many students. It’s a highly coveted privilege among upperclassmen.
Other areas covered in the executive summary include the school resource officer program, how visitors are allowed on campus and the need for improved school signage.
The group signed a $728,995 contract in July 2019 to assess the safety of every school and administrative building in the county. The school board’s safety and security committee reviewed the full report in closed session Wednesday, under an exemption in North Carolina’s Open Meetings Law for school safety plans.
While the full report isn’t public, the executive summary is and provides an overview of the work done during the safety review. Curt Lavarello, the group’s executive director, didn’t go into too many details on Wednesday, saying parents wouldn’t want that kind of information discussed in a public briefing.
Standardize how visitors are allowed in schools
During the audit, according to the summary, district employees cited visitor management as a safety concern.
The report says Wake should continue to prioritize a district-wide standardized visitor management system.
“I think every parent I’ve met and talked to across this country agrees that while they’d like open access to the campus, they also realize today’s times have changed,” Lavarello told school board members.
“And they also don’t want everyone else to have access to their children.”
Due to the pandemic, Wake is following state health requirements to limit nonessential visitors on school campuses. The report could lead to changes in what’s done when schools ease up on their visitation rules.
Improving SRO program
In June, the school board voted to continue having school resource officers for the next three years, despite the objections of some community and student groups. Under the program, the county’s law enforcement agencies provide an officer to every high school, most middle schools and a few elementary schools.
“Most of the comments my team out there obtained were very, very positive to the work that the school resource officers (do) and the level of professionalism that they did deliver into Wake County,” Lavarello said. “But we did identify some opportunities to improve upon that program.”
The report notes that the selection, training and supervision of the school resource officers wasn’t always consistent because several law enforcement agencies are in the program. The report recommends creating a district-wide School Resource Officer Operations Committee.
Areas for security improvements
Other areas that can be reviewed and/or improved include:
▪ Review the district-wide emergency communications and mass notification system. The report says Wake should prioritize a district-wide communications center.
▪ Improve signage on school campuses. The report noted that many schools lack basic signage telling visitors where to go as well as not having “no trespassing” signs or signs saying that video surveillance cameras are in use.
▪ Improve district-wide staff training in the safety and security field.
▪ Require all volunteers to undergo a criminal records and sexual predator check. Checks are required now if volunteers will be alone with students at any time.
▪ Expand the school security department, including creating the positions of physical security specialist and emergency manager.
▪ Create a district threat assessment policy and threat assessment team.
“What may not be a threat today may be a threat a month from now or a year from now so it’s constantly changing,” Lavarello said.
Acting on the report
Sean Burke, the group’s president, said Wednesday that the audit found some things that can be improved upon. But he said Wake County is ahead of a lot of other places the group works with on school security.
Wake can use the report to prioritize its security needs, according to Lavarello. He said some of the steps can be done through policy changes and don’t necessarily require more money.
Superintendent Cathy Moore said administrators will take a look at the report and propose next steps to the school board.
“We will take this information and synthesize and process and do all of that good stuff and continue to make sure that we make all schools in the Wake County Public School System as safe and secure as possible,” said school board chairman Keith Sutton.
This story was originally published November 18, 2021 at 4:57 PM.
