Several parents of students at Sequim Schools are taking improvements for school safety into their own hands.
Sequim Parents for Safe Schools, a parent group that started with three families, are raising money to fund locks being put on the inside of classroom doors, updating window coverings for school lock-downs and putting safety buckets into classrooms across Sequim School District.
The group formed after three families with multiple children in the school district — Trace and Dan Swanson, Joe and Jamie D’Amico and Jerry and Tiffani Mote — gathered to brainstorm ideas on how they could help increase safety at Sequim Schools.
“We’re looking for immediate fixes that can be implemented that can make our schools a little safer,” Trace Swanson said.
“The politics, red tape and everything the school has to go through (to make changes) we felt we could get things done quicker.”
The group’s goal is to raise $34,000, or $200 per classroom, to fund all three short term safety measures. Trace said this would cost less than about $10 per student. The gofundme has about $1,715 as of April 3.
The group has held three public meetings at Security Services Northwest, Inc., a local security company based out of Sequim, and the owners Joe and Jamie D’Amico said their company is partnering with the group to help increase safety at Sequim Schools.
The group has had about 80 people in attendance between the three meetings and the next scheduled meeting is at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18, at Security Services Northwest, Inc., 250 Center Park Way, Sequim. The meeting is open to the public.
Jamie D’Amico said Security Services could donate some of its services to the cause, such as threat awareness training for teachers and students, and aims to be more proactive rather than reactive when it comes to increasing safety.
“Whatever we provide for the school district we will donate and not make a profit off of it,” she said.
Jamie D’Amico said Security Services also could provide the district with signs that say the school is protected by its entity or it could use its Shepherd Shield mobile security app that is currently free to clients who download it. The app has a “see something say something” reporting feature and can also alert other Shepherd Shield users of a safety concern.
She said the app may be something teachers, school administration or staff could use if there is a threat to the district or near campus.
“It would be at no cost to the school systems at all,” Jamie D’Amico said.
The group said in the future, it would like to continue to support the school district in increasing safety measures but for now it wants to focus on these short-term goals.
Short-term fixes
The group said they would like to put locks on the inside of classroom doors because some classrooms currently only lock from the outside.
“Right now in many of the classrooms (teachers) must exit the classrooms to lock the door,” Trace said.
“Which is a huge safety concern so we would like to have a lock put on depending on which classroom has which kind of door.”
She said many of the classrooms also use paper to put over classroom windows in the event of a school lock-down and the group would like to provide for more efficient window coverings that would be easy for teachers to have in place.
The third short-term goal is to put safety buckets in every classroom, which the group said are five-gallon buckets with a lid that can transform into toilet seat if students are locked inside a classroom for several hours if there is a safety threat. It also ensures classrooms are equipped with toilet paper, wet wipes, waste bags and a tarp that can be used for privacy.
“It’s something you don’t think of when (schools) are in a lock down,” Trace Swanson said.
She said the group also would be willing to provide teachers with other safety necessities in the buckets, such as first aid kits, light sticks, etc.
Admin, board support
Sequim Schools superintendent Gary Neal said he has been present for two of the group’s three meetings and said he approves of the short term changes the group is trying to accomplish.
“I was very encouraged by what they’re trying to do right now to help the district be more safe for the students,” Neal said.
“Those are wonderful things we don’t have the resources to get to right now.”
Neal said if the group raises enough money to implement these three short- term safety improvements, it would go to the Sequim School Board of Directors to take action and either approve or disapprove the donation at a board meeting.
Sequim School Board President Heather Short said the board has not discussed these short-term improvements, but said these additions would most likely be welcomed by the board.
For more information about the group, visit its Facebook page “Sequim Parents for Safe Schools” or the gofundme at https://www.gofundme.com/74z2j4-sequim-parents-for-safe-schools.
