How can schools be made safer? Here’s what Wake and Johnston school board candidates say

As voters go to the polls from now until next month to elect candidates to school boards across the Triangle, one of the issues on their minds will likely be how officials plan to keep schools safe.

Gun violence, including mass shootings, and other threats that have taken place at schools across the country, have made school safety a top concern for parents, teachers and administrators alike.

The News & Observer asked school board candidates in Wake and Johnston counties about their positions on a number of issues, including how schools can be made safer in light of shootings and other violent incidents.

Candidates brought up a number of ideas and possible solutions, including expanding school resource officer programs, installing more cameras in schools, rethinking school entrances and exits, partnering closer with local law enforcement, increasing the availability of counseling and mental or behavioral health resources, and changing gun laws.

Below is a full list of answers from candidates who have responded to The N&O’s questionnaire. Additional responses will be added as they are received.

Wake County

Cheryl Caulfield, Republican, District 1

WCPSS has protocols to keep our schools safe, but always needs improvement. Having an SRO for every school is important. Currently we only have three drills (lockdown, weather, tabletop). Currently we only have one per year. I suggest two, and/or repeat of drill when school does not meet expectation. SROs share keys; I suggest one per uniform to improve response time. Discipline, bullying, and mental health are huge factors and need to be addressed.

The races are nonpartisan, but party affiliations are included if candidates provided them in their answers.

Ben Clapsaddle, District 1

I recently heard the senior director of WCPSS Security speak on school safety. In addition to allocating appropriate funding to implement the physical suggestions in the School Security Audit, I want to focus on character building, social and emotional health for our students. School safety is just as much about the relationships in and around the schools as it is about physical security of buildings.

Monika Johnson-Hostler, Democrat, District 2

The framework for school safety must be addressed from a multi-pronged approach: physical safety and mental safety. All schools should be outfitted with cameras, vestibules, and trained adults such as but not limited to social workers, school resource officers. Additionally, we must have lower ratios of school counselors and nurses to meet the needs of our students. We are often reactive, and to ensure our schools are safe we must move to prevention by addressing risk factors.

Monica Ruiz, Republican, District 2

School resource officers should be in every school. A police force just for WCPSS should be formed. There are way too many jurisdictions in Wake County, and that was one of the problems with Uvalde. So many responded and no one really knew who to answer to. We need vestibular entrances that check for metal weaponry. Doors need to be secured. We need to ensure that every teacher, including subs, has keys for every door that they may use.

Doug Hammack, Democrat, District 3

A recent external audit told us WCPSS is doing a lot right with school safety. An annual internal audit helps us practice constant improvement. I would continue this rigorous strategy for making our schools safe. Additionally, I think there is room to improve the psychological and emotional approach to prevention. I would focus on ways to reduce alienation in our student population, improving psychological and emotional services, as well as better access to existing county resources.

Wing Ng, Republican, District 3

I believe that having school resource officers is only one piece of the puzzle. SRO’s can be first responders to our school in the event of a safety threat. We need to improve the structural safety of our schools against external threats, especially older ones. We can retrofit them to be safer with current technologies. We can utilize resources already available to us. The Center for Safer Schools, within NC DPI, provides funding and training, so everyone can have a safe place to learn.

Becky Lew-Hobbs, Republican, District 4

On-site safety officers are needed to monitor each school. But Wake County has 12 different law enforcement agencies, which creates confusion in time of crisis as to who is responding to the emergency. A clear chain of command for times of crisis needs to be established ahead of time. This can be done in a similar way to Mecklenburg schools with a unified safety agency.

Tara Waters, Democrat, District 4

The district conducted a school safety assessment and gleaned valuable information. My recommendations are: Ensure safety protocols are the same across district schools. Cultivate trust between members of the school community and provide methods to anonymously report concerns. Provide resources to support mental wellness of students and educators. Partner with community agencies to provide additional resources to support students. Prevent isolation among members of the school community.

Michael Williams, unaffiliated, District 4

Enhancing the physical implements we have used since Columbine to include cameras, electric doors, controlling access to the building, etc., coupled with adding mental health professionals, and transforming our schools into inclusive environments where everyone feels as though they belong.

Lynn Edmonds, Democrat, District 5

WCPSS has many strong safety protocols and tools already in place such as cameras, locked exterior doors and background checks for volunteers. A 2019 district-wide safety audit revealed vulnerabilities that are currently being addressed. I do not and will not support arming teachers and/or school administrators with firearms. School safety must include a whole-child approach and violence prevention tools such as relationship building, restorative justice practices and student support.

Jackie Boegel, Republican, District 5

I would closely evaluate the safety assessment that was done of our school system three years ago. I would follow up with our Safety department to ensure that we are implementing the necessary improvements. I would work to implement consistency across the school system regarding keys and training for subs and volunteers. I would also ask teachers and principals for their input regarding safety issues at their schools. I would put a high priority on addressing bullying.

Sam Hershey, Democrat, District 6

I want to commend WCPSS for having a comprehensive school safety assessment done over the last two years. Some of the recommendations from the report include “a consistent District-wide visitor management system, District-wide Staff Development Training in the Safety and Security field,” and hiring “a physical security specialist that would work in cooperation with school principals to improve physical security at each school.” I support all the recommendations in the assessment.

Dajma Livingston, District 6

Living though an era of public-school massacres, I will continuously ensure that public school safety and security be our top priority in protecting our children, staff and the future of our nation from harm and violence. This looks like ensuring all Wake County public schools are secured, trained SROs are in schools and connected with our local police force and locally established organizations to better support protecting schools from harm.

Patrice Nealon, unaffiliated, District 6

How do students learn and teachers teach if they do not feel safe? Assure safety by not tolerating bullying (in real time or online), increase mental-health staffing, prioritize school resource officers by school need, nurture healthy relationships with law enforcement and embrace new technologies such as safety apps.

Chad Stall, District 6

I would start with practical things like kick-locks on doors. I believe having a well-defined SRO program is instrumental in keeping our schools safe. Keeping a safe perimeter around our schools will keep threats out of schools. WCPSS should not have its own police department. Local law enforcement has more range to go off-site to prevent major threats. I would like to see any interior SRO in plain clothes and in some kind of instructor capacity. DARE, gang prevention, self-defense, etc.

Chris Heagarty, Democrat, District 7

We need to maintain our current school resource officer program and work with local law enforcement to encourage community police presence in the neighborhoods around our schools. Most lockdown situations affecting our elementary schools are not from any direct threat to the school but due to gun violence in the surrounding neighborhoods. Additional security improvements need to be made to restrict access and improve security in our school buildings. Sensible gun safety laws should be passed.

Katie Thuy Long, unaffiliated, District 7

School infrastructure against school shootings should be assessed annually prior to each new school year. A dedicated Safety Team assigned to each SRO will enhance SRO effectiveness. Safety Teams will include students as they’re more likely to become aware of developing situations first. They’re better acquainted with their peers, and can be in a better position to identify potentially dangerous behavioral health issues that may lead to a school shooting.

Jacob Arthur, Republican, District 7

Every school should have security personnel onsite. This doesn’t necessarily mean law enforcement, but we should ensure our schools have personnel that can respond to threats to the school. We also need to ensure communications, response measures and building access protocols are uniform across the district. We also need to ensure teachers and staff are fully aware of emergency protocols. A recent survey indicated 22% of teachers had not read their school’s emergency response plan.

Lindsay Mahaffey, Democrat, District 8

This is a two-pronged approach. One is to address students’ social and emotional needs by continuing to increase the number of counselors and behavioral support professionals in our schools. Second, we initiated a security audit by a national school security group and have already begun to implement its recommendations — such as strengthening school entrances and implementing a universal visitor management system.

Steve Bergstrom, Republican, District 8

My father was a police officer, and I grew up understanding the importance of safety measures. One of my top platform issues is school safety, and increasing the number of school safety officers. Chair Lindsay Mahaffey was condemned by a member of the General Assembly for refusing to apply for funding to protect Wake elementary kids, and has voted against SROs in the past. I will make protecting our students, staff and teachers a top priority.

Editor’s note: Bergstrom’s response refers to a decision by the Wake County Board of Education last month to apply for state grant funding for a new visitor check-in system, instead of additional school resource officers for elementary schools. The decision was criticized by GOP state Rep. Erin Paré and some school board candidates. In an email after this story was published, Mahaffey, the chair of the school board, said Bergstrom’s claim that she had voted against SROs was incorrect. She pointed to her support for a three-year extension of the district’s SRO program that passed the board unanimously in June 2021.

Michele Morrow, Republican, District 9

We need a comprehensive security system in every school including SROs and cameras throughout the building, on the grounds and even in our buses, to help with bullying and safety traveling to and from school. We should have a manned, single-entry system and an alarm system on window and doors, so that the office is alerted if something is propped open and forgotten. We should create a Security Department within the district, so the chain of command is clear and training is uniform.

Tyler Swanson, Democrat, District 9

The board of education had an outside audit of all of our schools. I agree with many of the suggested recommendations, such as increasing the number of security administrators to nine to reflect the large geographic areas we have in Wake County. I do not support arming teachers with guns. However, I support adding additional helping professionals in our schools, such as nurses, social workers, school counselors, and SROs.

Johnston County

Michelle Antoine, Republican

Stop making schools a soft target. We can provide SROs in every school and take a hard look at the safety of our buildings. The truth is, we have a heart issue. Something has created a deep-seated hatred of schools; we must address the needs of our students by making school a place of community and success. A place no student would ever consider attacking. Much of this will require more vocational opportunity, younger, better connections, and a discipline policy that has consequences.

Rick Mercier, Democrat

We must be comprehensive and proactive. We have access to a matching grant to hire more school resource officers. We should take advantage of it. We also need to support a bond program that will enable us to build more schools and expand others. This will get kids out of trailers and into school buildings, making them safer. The bonds would also enable security-related technology upgrades to schools. We should also invest in more counselors, social workers and psychologists to prevent violence.

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