Grand jury looks at school safety, testing, nutrition

The Douglas County grand jury formed a school committee that looked into safety, nutrition guidelines, student and teacher evaluations and quality of education.

Jurors found that through the combined efforts of law enforcement and the school district, personnel are trained in emergency procedures including fire, bomb threats and suspected armed intruders, but two safety issues were identified:

n Consistent and reliable communication between classrooms and administrative offices presents a problem in alerting teachers and students who may be in danger, especially in schools with several buildings;

n Most classrooms and common areas don't have locks on the doors. "In the event of a threatening intruder, there would be no practical way to prevent entry into a classroom," the findings stated.

A consistent and reliable means of communication between classrooms and school offices should be installed and maintained at all schools along with continued training and drills in emergency procedures.

The jury recommended that locks be installed on the insides of all doors, and suggested enlisting the community in covering the expense.

"We realize that this is an expense," the jury said. "However, the safety of our children is at risk, and one event involving an armed intruder could be disastrous."

n Jurors also determined availability of food provided at schools appears to be adequate, but found fault with the use of sweets as rewards.

"The (nutritional) guidelines provide exceptions for holidays and special occasions in classrooms.

However, food " especially sweets " may occasionally be used to reward or encourage students' performance," jurors found. "We believe that the practice needs to be monitored more closely since the benefit is questionable and outweighed by the disadvantages."

n The jury found that procedures are in place to ensure regular evaluations of teachers' lesson plans and classroom performance and principals' performance by administrative staff, but are not done consistently.

Conversely, jurors said that students take overlapping, and "possibly redundant" tests required by the district and the state.

"The goal of ensuring that students are getting the skills and information they need to be effective adults is commendable. However, the tests are time-consuming and may actually be interfering with learning by taking valuable time from the classroom," the report stated.

n The jury also addressed the high school dropout rate, finding it "difficult to accurately measure the number of students failing to complete high school."

Jurors recommended consistent, "timely communication" with students and parents on the status of graduation requirements.