Historically, the Blue Valley district has always taken precautionary measures to guarantee that students, staff and parents feel comfortable in its public schools.
This applies not only to extreme situations, such as shootings or acts of violence, but also includes dealing with fires, chemical leaks, student injuries and more.
Responsible for all of that is the district’s director of safety and security Dan Carney. Carney previously worked for the police department, and, through the department, he had already helped both the Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission districts. To him, moving to his current position seemed like the logical next step.
Carney’s responsibility – based on his job position – is to ensure that members of the school district feel safe. This entails making various preparations to ensure student and faculty safety.
“First thing is to plan for the whole district,” Carney said. “What are all the things [that] could potentially bring harm to schools, events, etc? We plan for each one.”
Planning takes place through the comprehensive crisis plan formed by a team from each school. The crisis team meets within its respective school and later extends its information to the rest of the district’s crisis teams at an afternoon meeting over the summer.
One particular crisis that is addressed by these teams is school violence. There are many preventative methods taken to avoid the injurious consequences — and the occurrence — of these events.
Over the summer, crisis teams go to training where they talk through hypothetical scenarios and go through shooter training by bringing in police officers. Crisis teams are exposed to semi-realistic conditions and learn how to react.
But simply training members of the Blue Valley District would not suffice without first knowing what to train for.
Typically Carney and his staff will use past events and experiences around the nation to form the basis of their plan.
“It’s important to make sure school violence looks at the whole spectrum over the years,” Carney said. “[There are] certain trends. What have we learned? Most recent events can make us lose sight of all that other things have taught us.”
A trend that those preparing for outbreaks of school violence have noticed is that most perpetrators of such acts make mention of their intentions at some point before taking action, whether it be via social media or mentioning it to a friend. These informational slip–ups should not be taken lightly because they can, in fact, prevent tragedies from occurring.
“Most times, a person will rationalize it,” Carney said. “‘So–and–so talks like that.’ Or they fear retribution. [They] didn’t want to get him in trouble, so the information flow stopped. Sometimes these students are a cry for help. [We] just need somebody to step in and help them out.”
In the instance that a student hears a peer talk in this manner, he or she should pass that information along to a trusted adult. From there, the adult can handle the situation as they have been trained to.
“The best prevention for school violence is to make sure that all students are connected in some way with the school,” Principal Scott Roberts said. “That, as a school community, we build positive relationships with all students. It is also important for students to communicate concerns or troubling information to staff members or use the district’s safe schools hotline at 913-239-HELP. ”
The responsibility does not just fall upon the shoulders of one particular group, though.
“[We] need everyone to participate in business of security in schools,” Carney said. “Every student, staff member, parent. Every community member should participate in keeping the school safe. Then we’re well ahead of it. [If] we get ahead of the problem, then that’s when everybody wins.”
However, in light of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, the district members have been forced to reevaluate their approach to school violence because the shooter did not attend the school.
“The incident in Connecticut is unique,” Carney said. “So that raises new concerns and new questions. We are currently reviewing safety protocol.”
The district has not made any concrete decisions but has lots of ideas from parents, staff and the police. They’ve met with the police already and will continue cooperate with them until a plan is solidified.
“[It shows] the importance of precautions,” Carney said. “[It’s] always good to have a plan. Don’t realize how great that is until something happens.”
These precautions are perhaps the only way of mitigating the effects of a possible violent occurrence.
“I’m hopeful and optimistic and confident we’ll never have to deal with something like Connecticut or Columbine,” Carney said. “Statistically, it’s improbable we’ll have to deal, but we’ll prepare as if it would happen eventually. We prepare as if it’s going to happen, and it keeps us on our toes. I’m hopeful it will never happen, but I’m ready to respond.”
