BOE and Administration are too confused and angry to bring the community together on a complex issue.
John Leo Jr.
Mid January, a student brought an airsoft gun to Columbia Middle school. Students reported it, and the school and PD responded in kind. But some parts of the responses reveal an uncomfortable truth that demands some scrutiny.
Does our public school leadership, Board of Education (BOE) and Superintendent have a sincere interest in school security?
For me, this question came up nearly a year ago. Two days after the May 2022 Uvalde school shooting, Robert Cianciulli (BOE Member) staged an unsubstantiated ethics claim against another BOE member. As apparent through quick research, the weeks after the Uvalde shooting was supposed to be an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss and question school security.
Many schools across the nation even increased funding for school security. For BHPS, not one question was raised regarding school security, mostly due to the distraction of BOE infighting being in full swing, providing my first doubt that enough attention is on security or safety. The attitude recently displayed in the CMS Principal’s email to parents regarding this latest issue highlighted a similar undertone on security. In it, the Principal references “see something, say something,” which was a cornerstone of Sandy Hook Promise. The messaging promotes and supports students to speak up when they recognize a threat. But his primary concern was that “students didn’t speak up sooner.” Parents and students are the school’s security. He’s right in that any failure of students to speak up, to me, is a concern.
In this particular instance, it became widely known by parents soon after the event that the reason the airsoft was identified to BHPD, was because students reported it. When they supposedly didn’t get a response to the first attempts to raise concern, they escalated the issue. I first want to give kudos to those students. Because, as of this writing, none of our leaders did. And their action was imperative. (Edit: the CMS Principal Kobliska acknowledged the student’s response in a school assembly that Friday following). We must acknowledge and support this wisdom from the true guardians of our school security. If we don’t recognize students for such good behavior, then there will be doubt of them repeating it. Subsequently, the student with the airsoft continued to brag, even sharing photos of police during the investigation.
I understand that students also spoke up when he shared those photos. I also have much appreciation for the parents of those students. We generally undervalue non-tangible assets such as a straightforward attitude, but these students set the tone for future students to speak up. That is until they were criticized for not doing it quickly enough. And that could be crucial. A negative attitude such as blame starts from the top, our superintendent and our BOE. I understand this Principal is well respected. The simple suggestion resonates with the same message we constantly hear in our BOE meetings. And that’s the root of the problem. It’s the same messaging where “angry parents” are ignored and suppressed.
In BOE meetings we now have policy being rewritten to fend off inquisitive parents. Where BOE members are on constant defense from the parents trying to get straight answers. Some representatives respond to parents by actually ignoring them at the podium. And parents are blamed for rising costs when the admin indulges itself in legal defense fees and more admin… and then blames the parents again for it.
The BOE and the Superintendent continue to blame parents for this defensive position and entirely ignore their responsibility. It began with some poor explanations long ago, and the lies started in the panicked realization of those half-truths. And now we exhaust too much time, and resources on things like blatant nepotism cases and lawyers present during BOE meetings telling parents they can’t exercise their First Amendment rights. When a few parents recognize the inconsistency, they ask questions. The right to OPRA in order for parents to gain the answers places burden on the staff. Then, with answers in hand, the defensive lies continue but now with a never-ending aggravated stakeholder group vying for some sincerity in our leadership.
Then, a hobbyist’s weapon comes to school, and that same attitude (behavior) of blame is repeated. So I don’t blame the Principal. What do we expect? Students recognize that behavior. And by the time my younger children enter that school, the wisdom of a few prevails or the predominance of nil responsibility and finger-pointing grips the district yielding a vast hole in our most valued security system: The student.
This risk is too high for me.
The likelihood that the worst scenario will pan out is low, but the consequence is high. Very high. If this scenario isn’t eye-opening enough to what I tell you, then consider a hypothetical. A real weapon comes to school. The “angry parent” brigade is so large leadership must respond in kind. Given we generally only value tangible assets, the administration invests in new radio systems. More SROs. God-forbid, metal detectors. However, standards are required to support a system like metal detectors. So it would be up to the school leadership to create policy (with BHPD) to maintain, test, and support these systems. It requires more staff and more complex standards. Again, if leadership never really cared, if the attitude towards safety is hollow, devices like metal detectors become a liability and a failure point to be exploited. You have a new budget line item with no return.
Tangible assets fail if the leadership that oversees them don’t care about them in the first place.
I’m confident that if we had a sincere attitude towards safety – complete with positive collaboration that conveyed as much – we could have a safer environment without any cost. It’s that easy. I assume that students do also perceive how little their concerns are and thus, your current primary security asset is suddenly useless.
Unfortunately, we have a stalemate as the BOE tries to force inquisitive, concerned parents to retreat. When real concerns are brought before the BOE and Superintendent, the air of ignorance clouds the collaboration we’re supposed to have. The BOE needs to break its pattern and focus on safety and academia because any investments are only helpful with care.
My message is twofold: be careful what you wish for when seeking improved security and keep the BOE and leadership accountable.
I’ve seen many systems fail because their implementation was knee-jerk-lacking a sincere risk analysis and a proper dialogue for solutions.
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