FCPS to Implement School Safety Plans

Thanks to the widespread support of families, school district employees, leaders from business, faith and civic organizations, and the community-at-large, Fayette County Public Schools is moving forward this fall with initiatives to ensure that our core values of keeping children safe will be upheld and strengthened.

You may recall that in February, we established the District Safety Advisory Council to develop specific recommendations to ensure that our children are safe at school, at home and in the community.

The council consisted of 28 students, parents, educators, first responders, city officials, and business, faith and community leaders selected for their experience and expertise in safety and emergency management.

In May, the council released its recommendations, which were developed with input from hundreds of community members and drew upon the best practices from across the state and nation.

Based on that report, our district proposed the Comprehensive 10-point Safety Investment Plan to not only prevent a school shooting, but to also mitigate the other risks our students face, including bullying, self-harm, suicide, drug use, online exploitation, trauma and community-based issues.

The 10 initiatives are designed to work in tandem to make our schools among the safest in the nation. These initiatives already have been featured on the front page of the nation’s flagship education publication as a model for other school districts seeking community engagement to address school safety issues.

The initiatives include placing a law enforcement officer in every school, hiring more mental health professionals to bring the per pupil ratio closer to national recommendations, adding teams of security monitors in all middle and high schools, and addressing adolescent health in a comprehensive way by adding full-time nurses in every middle and high school, and contracting additional professionals for follow up medical and mental health care.

Proposed facility upgrades include walk-through metal detectors for middle and high schools, alarms on all 1,700 possible entrances to our schools, secure vestibules and security cameras in schools without them, and better interior door security.

Once those improvements are complete, those dollars will be used to implement phase two of the additional staffing needs for counselors, officers and nurses.

When fully implemented, there will be more than 200 additional mental health professionals, school nurses, law enforcement officers and security monitors safeguarding our children.

After carefully considering other ways of funding these critical investments, the Board of Education voted in July to approve a 5-cent property tax increase dedicated solely to school safety. The change will go into effect this fall, making the funds available to begin the safety improvements this year.

Just as we do with our strategic plan, we will regularly update the community on our progress. We will publish a status tracker on our website, with timelines, budgets and measures of progress so that our community can see their investment at work. Visit www.fcps.net/safety for more information.