Published: March 17, 2008 12:06 pm            

School security act covers myriad safety issues

EDMOND — Three Edmond legislators have authored bills this session that could cause big changes for Oklahoma public schools and the people in the school system.

Sen. Todd Lamb, R-Edmond, has authored what is perhaps the largest of these bills, SB 1941, titled the Oklahoma School Security Act. Lamb was a keynote speaker at an Oklahoma school security seminar earlier in the year, where he met with law enforcement officials and representatives for national school security. Lamb said the bill was drafted from recommendations by those he met with.

“I wanted to create a model for other states,” Lamb said. “I took those recommendations, as well as those from a study and assessment by the Secret Service and put them into this bill.”

One provision of the bill would give a great deal of local control to school boards and superintendents.

In many towns in Oklahoma, schools are used as polling places. This poses a possible threat to students because on days voters are allowed to enter schools, security measures are not taken in the same way they are on every other day. Visitors are not required to sign in, wear identification or sign out.

“If one of those people coming to ‘vote’ were to plant a bomb, it would be a serious disaster,” Lamb said. “This gives school officials a way to decide what is best and safe for their schools.”

Edmond Superintendent David Goin said because of security concerns, the Edmond school district and county election board already have cooperated during a period of years to remove polling places from schools — a process that was completed last year.

Also within the bill is the School Bullying Prevention Act, which would promote the prevention of any “written or verbal expression or gesture or physical act that a reasonable person should know will harm another student, damage another student’s property, place another student in reasonable fear of harm or damage to the student’s property, or insult or demean any student or group of students in such a way as to disrupt or interfere with the school’s educational mission or the education of any student.”

A second provision would prohibit threatening behavior of any type, including threatening text messages, videos, etc., whether school property is used or not, which raises the question of school liability. On this question, opinions vary.

According to part D of section five, “nothing in the act shall be construed to impose a specific liability on any school district.”

Goin said he thinks the intent of the bill is good, but certain provisions need to be carefully reviewed and clarified.

“The whole arena of bullying via electronic communications merits consideration and also involves setting parameters that are reasonably within the scope of school districts to monitor and enforce,” he said.

Goin shared similar sentiments about a portion of the bill that states the responsibility of school board officials to adopt a policy for the control, discipline and evaluation of all students.

One provision would require schools to evaluate all children attending public schools to identify students who could pose a threat to the safety of the school environment. Following the evaluation, schools would then be charged with additional follow-up actions.

Goin said he was somewhat unclear and concerned about the practical implications of implementing this provision of the bill. Edmond Public Schools is home to about 20,000 students.

If passed, the bill also will give higher education officials a seat in a Regional Homeland Security Task Force. SB 1941 passed off the Senate floor Wednesday and will go to the House for consideration.



TEACHER MERIT PAY

Rep. Lance Cargill, R-Edmond, authored House Bill 3390, the Higher Outcomes and Performance in Education Act. If passed, the bill would award merit-based raises to teachers. Currently, schools award raises based solely on the length of teachers’ careers.

“It’s an ancient model,” Cargill said. “In today’s world, innovation, expertise and additional hard work should be rewarded.”

Rep. Randy McDaniel, R-Edmond, authored the third bill, HB 2699. If passed, this bill will authorize the Oklahoma Arts Council to provide available funds to visual arts programs in public schools. McDaniel said the bill is important because it will integrate an important element that is missing in schools.

“According to recent nationwide polls, parents are growing weary of the lack of creative skills being taught in school, as all focus has shifted to improving standardized test scores,” McDaniel said.

The bill includes provisions for incentive grants, which are contingent upon matching funds. McDaniel also responded to concerns about financial aspects of the bill when it was heard on the House floor on March 3.

“Money appropriated by the Legislature for the program will be matched with other funding secured by the Oklahoma Arts Council through both private and public entities,” McDaniel said. “The money was appropriated last session so there is no fiscal impact.”

HB 2699 was passed by the House and will now go to the Senate for consideration.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.