Harford County Announces $1.198M School Safety Investment Plan

BEL AIR, MD — Harford County leaders plan to spend almost $1.2 million to improve safety in Harford County Public Schools. Funds will go toward hiring school resource officers and making technical upgrades, officials said at a press conference Tuesday morning in Bel Air.

"We want to make sure our teachers and children stay secure," Harford County Executive Barry Glassman said.

The topic of school security has been of nationwide concern since 17 were killed in a massacre on Valentine's Day at a high school in Parkland, Florida. Since then, Glassman said he and county officials have been in discussions over securing students.

"We've got to make sure the next generation that attends school does not have that fear at all in the back of their mind; they're there to learn," Glassman said.

The $1.198 million toward school safety proposed in the FY 2019 Harford County budget includes the following, according to the county executive:

• $773,000 toward school resource officers
• $325,000 for security camera upgrades
• $100,000 toward bi-directional amplifiers

The school safety announcement came two weeks after a student opened fire at Great Mills High School in St. Mary's County, fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend and injuring another teen. The gunman shot and killed himself when confronted by a school resource officer at the school in southern Maryland on March 20.

High schools in Harford County already have school resource officers.

Through the $773,000 proposed in the FY 2019 budget, Harford County will add school resource officers to every middle school in the county.

"This is a huge first step," Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said at Tuesday's press conference. "It is a great fiscal undertaking...it's also a hiring challenge."

The sheriff's office will open multiple lateral positions and identify a sergeant to supervise the school resource officers (SROs) in the 14 schools where deputies will be posted.

The new SRO positions will be in the following schools:

• Fallston Middle School
• North Harford Middle School
• Patterson Mill Middle School
• Southampton Middle School
• Alternative Education Program at the Center for Educational Opportunity
• Bel Air Middle School (funded by town of Bel Air)

It will take about nine months to have the school resource officers in place, according to Gahler, who said the plan is to have the program active by early 2019.

Gahler said the sheriff's office would be working with the county and school system "on finding other ways...to keep our elementary schools just as safe, even though they won't have an assigned SRO..."

Part of the plan is to make equipment improvements to ensure safety. The $325,000 for security camera upgrades and $100,000 toward bi-directional amplifiers included in the budget were requested by Harford County Public Schools officials. The amplifiers are designed to improve radio communications in schools.

A newly formed task force including school-based, central office and support staff is working to update safety plans, according to Harford County Public Schools Coordinator of Safety and Security Donoven Brooks. In addition to looking at things like metal detectors and visitor management systems, he said the task force will collaborate with pupil services staff to identify risks and where support is needed to address mental health.

"We're taking a holistic approach to safety and security," Brooks said at the press conference. "We're going to be looking at all of our layers of safety and security within the school system."

According to Brooks, "a lot of what's driving us to add these levels of safety and security" is feedback from Harford County's town hall meeting on school safety on March 1, as well as information students provided during the national school walkout on March 14, when they stayed inside to discuss school safety.

Conversations about school safety have to center around the children, Superintendent Barbara Canavan said.

"We need to know our children," said Canavan. "We really need to recognize when there is trauma there, when their emotions are in an upheaval, and I think that's probably the best detection. And then take care of them, whoever they happen to be, whether it's a 6-year-old in front of you or whether it's an 18-year-old in front of you...make sure that emotionally they are buoyant."

Local Funding Required

Glassman said that the governor's budget, which has been approved, includes $41 million for safety improvements such as video cameras and audits. However, he said it was not a guarantee that money could support changes needed locally.

"We don't know how it's going to be divided out yet," Glassman said. As someone who has served as a state lawmaker and now as the county executive, he said he saw the importance of coming up with funding at the local level because the $41 million would have to be split among 24 jurisdictions.

Bel Air Patch covered the school safety press conference live on Facebook; watch below.

School Resource Officer Program In Harford County

Every high school in Harford County has a school resource officer (SRO) except for alternative education, according to Sheriff Gahler, who said two middle schools have officers as well. Havre de Grace is the only jurisdiction in the county that has an SRO in every school, and its program is run through the municipal police department.

Seven jobs will be open starting on Tuesday for lateral deputies in the Harford County Sheriff's Office to help staff the school resource officer program.

The town of Bel Air will add an officer to Bel Air Middle School, whose anticipated start date will be at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, according to Town Administrator Jesse Bane.

For a number of years, a Bel Air officer has been doing double duty of Bel Air Middle School and Bel Air High School, Bane said. With SROs assigned to both the high and middle schools, five other schools remain in the town that "deserve some level of police protection," Bane said, adding that officials will work toward that end.

From her vantage point as an educator, Canavan said she saw the role of SROs as relationship-based.

"SROs are not there to punish students. They are not there to arrest students. What they are there for is to build relationships with students and the community so that everyone understands that there needs to be order and there need to be consequences," Canavan said. "The most important part is that there needs to be someone there in law enforcement that children and adults can go to and that they can trust in. And that is the biggest role that SROs play in our schools."

County Executive Glassman said the county was also putting $250,000 toward mental health and mediation.

Superintendent: 'Safety Is Our Number One Priority'

Superintendent Canavan said at the March 1 school safety forum that school officials were reviewing active shooter and armed intruder training under the direction of Brooks.

RELATED: Harford County School Safety Forum Draws Hundreds

After the Feb. 14 shootings in Parkland, Florida, that resulted in the death of 17 people, Canavan posted a letter on the school system's website "to reassure our community that safety is our number one priority."

Canavan wrote: "We take deliberate and intentional measures to take care of our children by maintaining safe and secure learning environments." She outlined the following protocols:

• Visitors must access schools through the front office, signing in, providing ID and wearing a badge.
• Schools conduct regular evacuation and fire safety drills.
• The School Resource Officer (SRO) program and Office of Safety and Security collaborate.

There are many other aspects of our overall security program that are not seen by the general public, but which go a long way in helping make our buildings secure. We are not at liberty to discuss these aspects because they involve information we do not want to share with potential perpetrators...Please be advised that we are conducting a full review of our safety and security plans as well as our training to ensure we are maximizing our efforts to prevent a tragedy. Remember, one of our greatest resources is you. Please have conversations at home and at work to help us secure our schools. Please provide information about issues that may be brewing in your school or your community and continue to be alert and attentive students, staff and parents/guardians. We cannot know everything and we rely on you to partner with us in our efforts to keep our schools safe. If you see something, say something."

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Video and image by Elizabeth Janney.