SCHOOL SAFETY
School Safety In Northwest Indiana
B ill Kaminski is Managing Partner at Newby , Lewis , Kaminski & Jones , LLP , in Laporte County , Indiana . He is very sensitive to the many and complex ways school administrators are challenged today , especially in the realm of school safety . His firm provides sound advice and protection to his school clients within 15 school districts in northwest Indiana .
According to Bill , “ Indiana has done a great thing in requiring each county to create a School Safety Commission .” Each commission is made up of School Superintendents , School Safety Specialists , Police Departments , Fire Departments , and EMS officials , among others . At meetings in LaPorte County , there could be 30 to 40 people present at any given meeting . The commissions are required to be active and consistent in meeting and practicing responses to various scenarios which could threaten the safety of students , teachers , visitors , and support staff .
“ We gather all these people in the room to make sure we are all on the same page ,” says Bill . One of the keys for discussion is , in the event of a tragedy in one of our schools , who is going to show up , who is in charge of what , and what are everyone ’ s responsibilities ? In order to achieve this goal , training is required . Not every school can have a school resource officer on site , but this is a great resource where available . Teachers must be trained to keep doors locked and , in some cases , to pull a shade over windows to limit a shooter ’ s view .
Unfortunately , we need to train children how to react in these situations as well . This can be quite emotional and needs to be done tactfully .
“ In LaPorte County ,” Bill notes , “ we try to have active shooter drills once a quarter or at least twice a year . We will take over one of our schools and turn it into the scene of an active shooter . We have K-12 schools , High Schools , Middle Schools , and Elementary Schools . We run drills in each of these situations so that everyone involved knows what is expected should there be an active shooter .”
Individual schools must look at their physical building and put controls in place to limit who is entering the building . Secure vestibules , cameras , and buzzin systems prevent someone from just walking in . You can ’ t have unlocked doors allowing free access in this day and age ! Once people are in the building , we need to be able to control where they go . For example , if a parent volunteer comes into the school , we give them a visitor badge telling where they are supposed to be , and we can watch them on camera .
Schools need to communicate quickly and effectively with parents in the event of a tragedy , establishing a Reunification Center in order to bring parents and their children together . In the past , we have often seen communication lacking among schools , law enforcement , and parents .
Many schools can give live-feed video to law enforcement , so if there is an active shooter in a building , police officers can have video footage to monitor what is going on , even before they get to the school .
While we cannot cover every possible threat to safety in our schools , School Safety Commissions are actively working to limit the threats and improve communication among first responders should a tragedy occur . +
WITH WILLIAM S . KAMINSKI , MANAGING PARTNER , NLKJ
Bill Kaminski is sensitive to the many and complex ways school administrators are challenged . He uses a team approach utilizing multiple NLKJ attorneys to provide sound advice and protection to his school clients . He represents 13 public school corporations as well as private schools . Because of his experience in school law , he has been a frequent speaker at the Indiana . School Board Association ’ s School Law Seminar and the Indiana School Board Association ’ s Summer Academy . Bill is the current chairman of the Indiana .
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