FUSD seeks to calm, inform parents at community meeting on school safety

FBI launches task force to investigate Flagstaff and other incidents nationwide

By Frank X. Moraga / AmigosNAZ

After a recent series of threatening telephone calls to a number of schools within the Flagstaff Unified School District, parents feared for the safety of their children.

To address those concerns, the district and the Flagstaff Police Department presented a community meeting on school safety on April 21 at Flagstaff High School, an event attended by more than 500 parents, educators and community members.

• Why are we not closing schools until this is taken care of?
• What do you tell your son about not being afraid at middle school?

Those are just a sample of some of the written questions submitted by the audience to panel members, including Robert Kuhn, assistant superintendent for operations; Mary K. Walton, assistant superintendent; Flagstaff Police Chief Kevin Treadway, and Assistant Chief Walt Miller.

FUSD Superintendent Barbara Hickman was unable to attend the forum because she was away presenting at a national conference. However, she has been in constant contact with district officials, Walton said.

The issue began on March 23 when the district received a threatening telephone call targeting Thomas Elementary School. Calls have since been received at elementary schools Marshall (April 15) and Knoles (April 16), Mount Elden Middle School and again at Marshall on April 20. The calls also triggered lockdowns of Flagstaff and Coconino high schools, Sinagua Middle School and the Puente de Hozhó bilingual magnet school.

Miller said police arrived at the first school within one minute and 45 seconds, with similar responses to other schools. All calls have been taken very seriously, he said.

The calls appear to be computer-generated, have also been made to an elementary school in Surprise, Ariz. on April 15, and schools in Los Angeles, Tennessee, North Carolina and Alabama.

“The FBI — they are involved” in Flagstaff. They have been at every scene working with us,” Miller said. “We have a very good partnership with the FBI. We have been in constant contact with them. Yesterday after the incident we held a meeting and they were present and they have announced they have opened up a nationwide taskforce to help us address this problem.”

More than 6,000 of these types of calls have been received by schools, libraries, dispatch centers and hospitals between 2009 and 2010, Miller said, adding that the FBI says they have seen a “huge upswing in the number of calls in the last month or so.”

The calls could be coming from someplace local or within the United States or even from overseas, Miller said.

Because this is an ongoing criminal investigation, both Treadway and Miller said the police department is currently unable to reveal other information about the case.

Child safety, however, is the primary concern among law enforcement and district officials.

“First and foremost I want you to know that this is our top priority,” Treadway said. “We are as concerned and disturbed by what is taking place as all of you. I hope it goes without saying, most of the officers in your police department have kids in the school district. Many of us have wives that work in the schools as well. There is no more important mission for any police agency than keeping our kids and schools safe. To that end, both our patrol and detective divisions are bringing all resources to bear in order to make sure your children are safe …. This is absolutely a top priority for us.”

Kuhn opened the program with a slide show highlighting the steps the district has taken in recent years to improve safety at local schools. They include:

• Installing security doors district-wide that require electronic chip badge access, visitors badges and uniforms.
• The closing of all doors and gates to schools after the second bell, with access only permitted through secure doors in the administrative offices.
• Changing locks in each classroom, allowing full-time and substitute teachers to use keys to lock the doors from the inside.
• Multiple lockdown and lockout drills held at all district schools throughout the year. Lockdowns include students locked in classrooms or other spaces with lights off. Lockouts include locking all doors to the school, with business continuing as usual and children practicing “Shelter in Place.”

During lockdowns, the first priority of school officials is the safety of the students. As a result, calls to parents will not be returned for 30 to 45 minutes after an event concludes.

“We want them to take care of the students, your kids and the staff,” he said. “We don’t want them to stop in the middle of these lockdown procedures and send home a phone call.”

Kuhn declined to discuss specific safety plans for each school, citing security concerns.

During the 30-minute question-and-answer session, Kuhn and Walton gathered the written questions, grouped similar questions together and answered them.

Kuhn read from one of the cards: “Why are we not closing schools until this is taken care of?

“When dealing with children we want them to get back to normal as quickly as possible,” Kuhn said, adding that several counselors are available at each school to help children cope with the situation.

“Kids wouldn’t be happy if they have to be back in school in July,” Walton said of having to make up for the lost time.

Kuhn also talked about the need to lock down other schools in the neighborhood that were not directly threatened. That is being done to prevent students, such as those from Coconino High School, from walking through the neighborhood of Mount Eldon Middle School, when it was under lockdown. This also prevents school buses from going through their regular routes from non-threatened to lockdown schools.

Kuhn said district officials have been communicating daily with law enforcement to see what they can do to improve the system.

While some parents wanted police to place an officer at each of the school until the end of this school term, Miller said the department just doesn’t have the personnel to do that.

Instead, police officials are making daily visits to all schools in the district, and the Flagstaff Police Department is working with the Coconino County Sheriff’s Department on joint security of schools outside the city limits, such as Cromer Elementary.

At the end of the formal program, parents and others were invited up to the stage to talk with Treadway, Miller and school district officials. A small portion of those in attendance did just that.

The district also provided a two-page document to help parents explain the recent threats and lockdown procedures to their children.

In response to a question about the need for information and material for the Spanish-speaking community, “With the urgency of things that we have done we realize that is something we need to do,” Walton said. “We will be having everything translated and put out now at this point in time.”

District spokesperson Karin Eberhard stressed that the threats have never been called hoaxes by the district, which takes each call seriously.

The meeting was also covered by such media as 12NEWS-NBC, the Arizona Daily Sun and local radio stations including KAFF NEWS.

The Flagstaff Police Department is actively seeking information in this investigation. Calls can be made to 928-774-1414 or SILENT WITNESS at 928-774-6111. Translators are available.

Visit the Flagstaff Unified School District at http://www.fusd1.org or click here for its Facebook page for more information.

 

Other media resources:

For more information on the community meeting on school safety, visit:

• Arizona Daily Sun — Police: FBI investigating Flagstaff school threats
  
• 12NEWS-NBC — FBI investigating threatening calls
  
• KAFF NEWS — FUSD holds town hall about latest phone threats
  

KAFF also provided audio from the meeting:

• Part 1
  
• Part 2