THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 27, 1995 TAG: 9510270502
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
City school officials, stung by two safety consultants' reports that faulted school security measures, defended their record Thursday of confronting and curbing violence and crime in the schools.
The reports, released last month, said city police were not being notified of some criminal activity in the city's middle and high schools. And one of the reports quoted members of the Police Department's gang squad as saying that school officials were in ``a major denial mode due to fear of admitting that crime is occurring.''
But in the school system's first official response, Deputy Superintendent J. Frank Sellew said there's ample proof to show that officials are seriously addressing school safety.
In an interview, Sellew ticked off a list of actions since the early 1990s: The city schools, he said, were the first in South Hampton Roads to hire a security force and security coordinator and also the first to use metal detectors and gun- and drug-sniffing dogs.
``If we were in a high state of denial, we would say that we don't need security officers or metal detectors,'' Sellew said.
Statistics kept by the schools show that serious violations, such as assaults and weapons, have been declining. Last year, three guns were confiscated, compared with more than 20 three years ago.
The school system paid about $17,000 for the security audits, using part of a $508,000 federal Safe Schools Act grant.
At Thursday's School Board meeting, Sellew presented a six-page response to the reports, noting that officials agreed with some recommendations but not others.
Officials sharply disputed a finding in one report that a lack of cooperation existed between the schools and city police. Police Chief Melvin High also denied there was a problem.
Sellew, however, said officials agreed with the report's recommendation to re-establish regular meetings between school principals and gang squad members.
He acknowledged that neighborhood gang problems sometimes spill into schools. But he said the report overstated their presence: Street graffiti identified as gang-related outside Maury High School ``is more `school spirit' in nature and has been a longstanding tradition,'' Sellew said.
School administrators rejected a recommendation that the supervision of security officers be removed from individual principals and placed under a central command. Principals, they said, have the ``primary responsibility for maintaining a safe and secure learning and working environment.'' by CNB