One of the Putnam County Schools’ leads on school safety said Governor Bill Lee’s new executive order is an added resource when it comes to school safety.
The order directs accountability measures for school safety and an evaluation of training for Tennessee law enforcement. It also establishes additional resources to support improving school security practices. Putnam County Schools Attendance Supervisor Chris Pierce said that the executive order gives school systems more updated and in-depth guidance.
“School should be one of the safest places that we have for children so it’s unfortunate that we’re even talking about this,” Pierce said. “But anything we can do for a child’s safety, everybody will be all for that. And safety is conducive to effective learning, so this will help everybody.”
Pierce said that the school system already has school safety plans in place and SRO at every school. He said the system also has a team dedicated to coordinated school health that focuses on safety, mental health, and family.
“We have a multi-tiered system that we use,” Pierce said. “We have entrance screeners, we have cert teams at school we have emergency operation plans that are already in place, we have site security assessments that have already been conducted in May that go into this coming school year. All those play together with our community partners, with our in-building SROs, our local law enforcement partners, our fire department partners, and our partners in the local EMA.”
Pierce said that the order also provides opportunities for parents to partner with the system in student safety. He said that parents are the main teachers in a child’s life, so the more the school can partner with parents and hear their say, it works better for a total partnership for the students’ well-being.
Pierce said that everyone should have one goal, and in this situation, the goal is student safety. He said that this executive order helps local education entities know that the people above them are striving toward that same goal.
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