Falls City evaluates school safety measures

FALLS CITY – The Falls City School Board invited Police Chief Jamie Baker and Officer Chuck DiGiacomo to its July meeting for a presentation on school safety.

Officers focused on school perimeter and interior security, as well as situation awareness, but Superintendent Tim Heckenlively said the topic of arming school staff did come up.

Heckenlively: “We quickly will report though that -- unless the Nebraska Legislature passes a bill to change the law – currently any firearm is illegal to have in a school system. It’s actually a felony for an individual to have a firearm in a school, except for a police officer.”

Falls City school buildings are locked down during the school day with a single point of entry that is monitored by the office and cameras. Heckenlively said buildings might benefit from an indicator if doors are left ajar.

He said older buildings are not necessarily designed for a single-entry point, but the school district is moving in the right direction for school safety.

Heckenlively: “There’s a lot of different parts that are moving anywhere from school security to mental health and just the educational programs and training with teachers on crisis situations that all factor in to the overall school safety picture, but, certainly frequent assessments of our school safety program is beneficial and does help guide us when we are making considerations on what continued improvements we can make for the safety of our students and staff.”

Heckenlively said the school board's safety committee is exploring how to provide law enforcement with real-time images from school cameras.

The Nebraska Department of Education is creating a School Safety Task Force in response to violence in schools across the country.

https://www.education.ne.gov/press_release/school-safety-task-force-applications-available/