THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511181603
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
A consultant who sized up the safety of the city's three public high schools, four middle schools and alternative center gave the district high marks in a report released Thursday.
The consultant praised the school district for ``doing the right things to provide security to the physical plants as well as creating a safe and secure environment for staff, faculty and students.''
Gang activity, the report said, appears to be ``minimal within the confines of school property.''
Students weren't interviewed for the report.
Portsmouth's findings stand in stark contrast to those reported for Norfolk - where consultants claimed they found evidence that some crimes, including gang activity, had gone unreported by educators worried about public image.
Portsmouth Superintendent Richard Trumble distributed copies of the Aug. 22 report to School Board members at the end of Thursday night's meeting.
``Obviously, there are always things that can be done to improve,'' Trumble said Friday.
``But all in all, I'm very satisfied.''
Trumble decided to release the report after repeated media requests.
The board didn't publicly discuss it. The superintendent said he had not shared the report sooner because board members never asked for it. On Friday, he said nothing in it seemed ``compelling'' or ``urgent.''
While the report was generally positive, it did cite areas for improvement.
For example, the consultant recommended that the selection, supervision, training and evaluation of school security officers be removed from individual principals and placed under the command of a central administrative director.
That would help clear up staffing problems and confusion in the chain of command and would address a reported ``lack of districtwide continuity in procedures and communications,'' the consultant said.
Trumble said the district will soon name a ``lead security officer,'' who will be based in a school.
Some schools are vulnerable to intruders because broken doors haven't been repaired and remain unlocked during the day, the report said.
The doors are chained shut after hours, but doing so during the school day would violate fire codes. Keeping old doors in working order is a recurring problem, Trumble said.
The Rev. Charles H. Bowens II, a board member, welcomed the report's good news. Still, things aren't rosy, he said.
``The adult society has not dealt with what is good and what is evil,'' Bowens said Friday.
``Many times I find that young people are not aware of when they are actually wrong or out of line. That's much deeper than just saying a building is physically secure.''
Some of the report's recommendations wouldn't come cheap.
The cash-strapped district has cut thousands of dollars for teacher training, supplies and maintenance needs.
Yet the report urges the district to:
Invest in districtwide, two-way radio systems that allow security officers to communicate from building to building.
Install two-way intercoms in classrooms and mobile units that lack them.
Install closed-circuit television systems in all middle schools and expand the systems in each high school.
Other suggestions were more basic - like the one to develop a manual explaining standard operating procedures for security officers.
``We'll deal with the situation as funds will allow,'' Trumble said. ``But I would not risk the safety of students or the staff if administrators or security officers in a building said there was a problem that had to be addressed. We would address it; we would find the resources.''
The report is based on four days of on-site observation in July, as well as interviews with administrators, other district workers and security officers and juvenile detectives assigned to schools.
The consultant, Dennis K. Lewis, sits on the board of directors of the National Association of School Security and Law Enforcement Officers.
He also is the director of public safety for a Missouri school district. The evaluation was required as part of a $508,000 federal Safe Schools Act grant awarded jointly last January to Norfolk and Portsmouth.
Grant money was used to pay the Norfolk and Portsmouth consultants.
KEYWORDS: SCHOOL DISCIPLINE PORTSMOUTH SCHOOLS SCHOOL SAFETY by CNB