State Superintendent proposes school safety initiative
Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra has outlined a new initiative focused on improving the security of public schools.
She calls the plan Keep Idaho Students Safe (KISS). It combines Ybarra’s three-year-old anti-bullying campaign with two new proposals.
“Our number one priority is to keep our students safe,” Superintendent Ybarra said. “No single strategy or program is the answer, so KISS will add a toolbox of new measures to existing approaches that are already having an impact.”
The State Department of Education is designing a three-credit, 45-hour course focusing on protecting students and addressing risk behaviors, including bullying. It would also include suicide prevention training. The course would be a required part of teacher recertification and, at a later date, as part of the certification process for new Idaho teachers and administrators. The cost is estimated at $1.99 million.
The department will also secure funding for all Idaho schools to have a trained security presence, either school resource officers, retired military or law enforcement personnel, or private security. Her plan would provide an estimated $25,000 in grant funding plus $500 for training to each of the 732 student-occupied school buildings in Idaho. The estimated cost would be $18.67 million.
“Having trusted security people available is of great importance to the students I’ve talked to,” Superintendent Ybarra said. “When I attend non-school public events across the state, there is generally a security presence, and Idaho students deserve the same sense of safety in their schools.”
The third component of Ybarra’s plan is Crisis Communications. A statewide counseling position would be housed at the State Department of Education and help counselors across the state address student threats and respond to crises.
The estimated cost would be $116,584 for salary and benefits and another $20,000 in operational funding.
Acknowledging the acronym may be considered by some to be too light-heared, Ybarra said, “We need to do everything we can to help students, staff and families feel secure in Idaho’s schools. We take that extremely seriously, and that’s what KISS is about.”
