Q: Are schools too open?
A: Our principals are asked to keep just one outside door open, the front door to the building. At some schools, even the front door is locked. Our teachers are asked to keep classroom doors locked. There are no doubt times at which exceptions are made to these requests, but by and large, most school doors are locked.

Q: Is it possible to keep unauthorized visitors out of schools?
A: Putnam City has taken significant steps in this regard. In early 2007 the district completed the creation of secure entrances to every school.

At some schools, a secure entrance means the front door to the school is locked and visitors must push a buzzer to ask for admittance. Office staff checks a monitor to see who is asking to enter. If office staff recognize the visitor, they ask them via a speaker system to come to the office, and the door is then electronically unlatched. If office staff does not recognize the people asking to enter, they question them via the speaker system to determine their needs. Anyone admitted to the building is monitored to be sure that they come straight to the office.

At other schools, a secure entrance means that visitors to the school may enter the front door of the school and then are funneled by the structure of the school directly into the school office.

By either method, every person who comes to the school must enter the office to be greeted and screened by office personnel.

Q: What other precautions do you take against unauthorized visitors in school buildings?
A: When our administrators see an adult in the building without a visitor’s tag, they know to go to that person and investigate. Teachers in every school are encouraged to do the same thing. It can be a little more difficult for a teacher, who may be with a class or trying to finish tasks to be ready for a class. But the message is plain: If you see people you don’t know, stop them and make inquiries. Events across the nation over the last decade have made it clear that unknown and unauthorized visitors must be challenged.

Q: What is a lockdown?
A: Students in all Putnam City schools practice lockdown drills twice a year. A lockdown means teachers doublecheck to make sure classroom doors are locked, classroom lights are turned off and students move to an area of the room where they cannot be seen from classroom windows. When conditions warrant, the principal can use the school intercom to ask all classrooms to go into lockdown mode.

Q: Do you have police in our schools?
A: Putnam City is one of the few school districts in the state to have its own police force. By having our own police force, we have officers dedicated to the same philosophies, values and mission of our educators. These police officers are in our schools for the same reason teachers and principals are: to help children and youth.

During the school day, we have one police officer in each of our three high schools. A security guard is at each high school all day long, too, for the most part providing a security presence in school parking lots. Three middle schools have security guards in their buildings all day, while the other two middle schools have Campus Police officer in their buildings for much of each day. In addition, three Campus Police officers are on patrol and available to respond to needs throughout the district.

Q: Are Campus Police officers prepared for emergencies?
A: The Campus Police Department has in place emergency response plans for use in situations at any of our 27 schools. The plans are adaptable for several types of situations, including terrorism. Several Campus Police officers have attended "Technical Emergency Response Training" put on by the Department of Homeland Security. The department is looking into weapons upgrade, too.

Should any school be faced with a major emergency, it won’t be just Campus Police officers that respond. Putnam City has schools in Oklahoma City, Bethany and Warr Acres, and Campus Police work closely with the police in each municipality.

Q: Are there security cameras in Putnam City schools?
A: Putnam City’s 27 schools have a total of 692 security cameras. At each school a monitor is available so that school staff can, when necessary, look at the view from any camera in the building to determine if there is a disturbance or concern. If an intruder is in a building, they may be tracked on cameras until they can be confronted. Video may be later searched to determine how they got into the building so that any security gaps can be closed. Cameras have also been used to find out who was responsible for theft or vandalism. All camera views in every school can also be called up in our campus police station.

Q: What other programs help keep students safe?
A: The district's "secret witness hotline" is in operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for any student in any school to call and report any criminal activity, violation of school policy or other incident that occurred or might occur on campus. The number is posted on every entrance door at all schools and is included in the student handbooks. The information obtained from the hotline is used by Campus Police and school administrators to help keep students and staff safe. The number for the secret witness hotline is (405) 787-1919.

In addition, amnesty boxes have been placed at the main student entrances of our three high schools. These boxes are similar to small safes with a one-way drop slot opening in the front. In the event students bring weapons or illegal contraband to school, they may drop it in the amnesty box with no questions asked. The boxes are checked weekly by Campus Police officers, and any items found in them are booked into the police property room.

Q: Are unauthorized visitors in our schools a problem?
A: We don’t want unauthorized visitors in our schools, which is why we created secure access entrances and continue to emphasize to school staff the need to be aware of visitors. However, in terms of threats to students, visitors in schools are not the biggest concern. What school administrators everywhere have learned from tragedies that have occurred in our nation's schools is that most often they happen because a student’s hurt feelings, disappointments or frustrations turn into anger. Perhaps the top security measure in any school is letting students know that someone is listening and that someone cares.

Q: How do you go about making sure students feel listened to?
A: Research confirms that in smaller learning communities, students feel less alienated, more nurtured and more connected to caring adults, and teachers feel that they have more opportunity to get to know and support their students.

In Putnam City high schools, we’ve instituted smaller learning communities through regular advisory periods in which students meet in small groups (14-18 students) with teachers. Student advisory periods are held every day at all five Putnam City middle schools and once a week in high schools. The concept is the same, whether high school or middle school. Students spend time with an adult who knows and cares about them.

Q: Do safety efforts reach any younger students?
A: People think of violence prevention as being something that should be done in middle schools and high schools. The truth is, it should start at the earliest level, and in Putnam City Schools, it does.

In elementary schools, counselors use anti-bullying curriculum with students in every grade level and every classroom. Teachers receive training on how to recognize and deal with bullying. Some schools have students sign pledges not to bully. Other schools provide instruction in social skills to students who need help building appropriate relationships with classmates.

In addition to efforts by counselors, teachers and administrators, each year a group of high school leaders visits every second grade classroom in the district several times to talk to younger students about bullying. This same group of high school students also visits every third grade classroom in the district several times to talk about respect and acceptance.

All elementary and middle schools provide peer mediation. This process helps teach students how to resolve conflicts and problems in a peaceful, reasonable manner.

When bullying behavior is reduced, more students are ready to learn and there is less chance of students becoming alienated and angry.

Q: What can parents do to help schools be safe?
A: At a national school safety summit called after tragedies at schools in Colorado and Pennsylvania, experts said the key to school security is awareness and communication.

The number one thing parents do can to help keep student safe in school is to stress again and again to their children the need to always share safety concerns and rumors with teachers and principals. Attackers don’t tell teachers or administrators about their plans, but they often tell other students. In more than three-fourths of school shootings, attackers told a friend, schoolmate or sibling in advance about his attack. Many other violent incidents have been prevented because students told school officials about rumor or plans they overheard.

A Newsweek article tells the story of Evan Ramsey, a student in Bethel, Alaska, who in 1997 shot and killed a fellow student and his school principal. Ramsey told many classmates about his intended attack. He told so many that a crowd gathered in the library balcony to watch. But no one passed that word to an adult.

Ramsey was asked, "If the principal had called you in and said, ‘This is what I’m hearing,’ what would you have said?"

"I would have told him the truth," Ramsey said.

The lesson is clear: School staff and students who are alert and communicate concerns are crucial elements in school safety.

Q: Are children safe in school?
A: Each year the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics issue a report about crimes at school and away from school. This includes crimes such as assault. Those statistics show that children are generally safer at school than away from school. Statistics also show that overall school violence has shown a declining trend in the last 15 years. The truth is, schools are probably the safest place a child can be.