Date: 01/15/2014

Final
Panel discussion on school safety

COMMITTEE ON JOINT EDUCATION

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
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10:02 AM -- Panel discussion on school safety

Representative Hamner, Chair of the Joint Committee, welcomed the panelists, audience, and committee members. She explained that upon-adjournment meetings on Wednesday mornings, as needed, will replace the joint committee's former Wednesday early-morning meetings. She gave brief opening remarks on school safety. Representative Hamner introduced the panelists and asked each to spend five minutes discussing their experiences, their organizations, and their current efforts to increase safety; the challenges they face; and what support is needed. She instructed committee members to hold their questions until after the introductions were complete.

10:05 AM -- Christine Harms, director of the Colorado School Safety Resource Center (CSSRC) in the Department of Public Safety, introduced herself. She explained that the center was created in 2008 to provide safety-related training to all schools in Colorado. She presented to committee members a brochure listing highlights from the center's 2013 legislative report (Attachment A). She described the achievements of the center and its ongoing efforts.

14JTEd0115AttachA.pdf14JTEd0115AttachA.pdf

Addressing the challenges her organization faces, Ms. Harms relayed the need for school personnel to be able to obtain the resources that would allow them to attend workshops. She also described the challenges schools face in ensuring physical safety. Ms. Harms discussed student trauma. She stated the center's appreciation for the support of the General Assembly and the Governor.

10:11 AM -- Samantha Haviland, Director of Counseling Support Services for Denver Public Schools, introduced herself and referenced her experiences as a 2000 graduate of Columbine High School. She explained that school counselors are the front line of mental health in schools. She described the minimum qualifications required to be a school counselor, and discussed their role in providing mental health services. She described counselors' work and the Colorado School Counselors' Association's efforts to focus on school safety and provide training to its members. She pointed out the association's reliance on CSSRC as well as other experts and listed training topics. She described counselors' efforts to assist students in recovery after school violence occurs.

Ms. Haviland described the major challenge faced by school counselors in Colorado as too-large case loads and provided statistics. She described a secondary challenge as a lack of resources in the community to connect parents with services they need. Ms. Haviland stated her thanks to the legislature for the Colorado Counselor Corps grant program and asked legislators to continue funding the program.

10:18 AM -- Julie Bolding, school psychologist at Moore Middle School in Jefferson County, introduced herself as representing the Colorado Society of School Psychologists. She described school psychologists' work, and their efforts to develop materials and respond to violence in schools. She relayed her beliefs that physical safety should not compromise psychological safety and that students cannot learn if they feel scared, threatened, or bullied.

Ms. Bolding described the challenges facing school psychologists as relating to shortages, including inequitable ratios among mental health providers and in many instances lack of sufficient number of providers. She provided statistics about the scarcity of school psychologists. She advocated for more training and for an increase in mental health resources both in schools and in the community. She discussed the importance of training substitute teachers. She urged committee members to increase resources and relayed the need for effective discipline policies. She advocated for prevention and early intervention rather than punishment.

10:24 AM -- Sgt Douglas Ross, School Resource Officer (SRO) supervisor for the Longmont Department of Public Safety, introduced himself and described his work for the Colorado Association of School Resource Officers (CASRO). He described SROs' top priority as ensuring that children feel safe in order to increase student achievement and graduation rates. He emphasized the need for preventive programming. He discussed statistics showing the effectiveness of good SRO programs in enhancing safety and achievement. He described studies showing the benefits of SRO programs. He recognized the continued need to address school safety, but urged committee members to recognize efforts already underway to increase safety. He pointed out that effectiveness is a key factor in SRO programs. He described SROs' efforts statewide and CASRO's work.

He stated that the primary challenge facing SROs is complacency. He described the current status and needs of SRO programs in Colorado. To emphasize the need for ongoing training and drills, Sgt. Ross pointed out that the last fatality in a school due to fire was in 1958, yet schools still do fire drills. He asked committee members to support SROs' efforts by funding additional SRO positions, providing better training, and funding research to determine what effective programs look like.

10:32 AM -- Cynthia Coffman, Deputy Chief Attorney General, introduced herself and described herself as proud to be part of the effort to make schools safer. She surveyed the history of school violence in Colorado and discussed her credentials. She pointed out that school shooters across the country often compare themselves to the shooters at Columbine and regard those two shooters as heroes. She described efforts within the Attorney General's Office, starting with the original Columbine Commission report. She described research by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Secret Service on school shootings showing that in 81% of incidents, someone knew of the threat ahead of time. She described the reasons for implementing Safe2Tell and described the current legislation before the Senate.


10:42 AM


The witnesses responded to questions from the committee. Among the topics discussed were: 11:43 AM

The committee adjourned.