100s of cameras, ‘buzz in’ doors, SROs: How Buncombe County plans to keep students safe
ASHEVILLE - Buncombe County Schools is starting out the 2022 fall semester with a multifaceted safety network that is more advanced than ever and partly leans on technology based in the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office.
For starters, each of the county’s 44 schools has a video security system and is adding more cameras each year, according to spokesperson Stacia Harris.
“Last year we also fully upgraded all of our school’s front entrances with integrated video door access control so front office staff can monitor the front of the school and ‘buzz in’ only the appropriate students, staff or visitors,” Harris said.
Schools across the nation, including in Buncombe, are upgrading safety measures following the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.
Many campuses also have School Resource Officers posted — 24 in total according to the Sheriff’s Office — at least one at each high and middle school. Elementary and intermediate schools share SROs, Harris said.
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Buncombe County Schools has 23 elementary schools, four intermediate schools and seven middle schools, according to its website.
But underneath all that is a network of cameras called the “Real Time Intelligence Center,” an operation run by Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office and meant to be a tool that can safeguard against tragedy and quicken response times.
The intelligence center — “a technology center that assists in investigating and gathering intelligence in order to deploy resources more effectively,” according to the Sheriff’s Office website — uses hundreds of cameras in the schools to create a feed that law enforcement can access if they need to.
“I should be clear. There is restricted access. You have to log in and there are security credentials, all that kind of stuff,” said sheriff’s spokesperson Aaron Sarver.
This means personnel who monitor the network of cameras aren’t constantly watching them without reason. But they are prepared to use them in case of an emergency.
This year, the Sheriff’s Office isn’t the only entity with access to the cameras: BCS cameras now are feeding into the Buncombe County 911 center as well so that, should emergency personnel need to respond to the schools, they can do so more quickly and more effectively.
“We view this as a tool for school safety,” Sarver said. “Obviously we hope we never need them, but if we did have a critical incident, hopefully this will enable us to identify a suspect as quickly as possible.”
Buncombe County has seven main high schools, some with very large campuses, and having a camera system could help direct response efforts effectively, Sarver said. Additionally, any officer responding to the situation — and not actively engaging a suspect — could open an app on their phone and live feed to the system.
Law enforcement trained over the summer to prepare for the school year, Sarver said, preparation designed to cut down on response times where moments matter.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say saving 30 seconds would be a big deal,” Sarver said. “We also know that part of saving lives (means) getting paramedics, fire, EMS in there as quickly as possible for folks who may be wounded but are still alive.”
Operations can be planned out on paper, he added, but that never guarantees an incident like a shooting will follow form.
“It is something that comes up,” said Shanna Peele, a Woodfin Elementary K-4 special education teacher, mother of three and newly appointed president of the Buncombe County Association of Educators. Discussing the county's safety measures, she said she is hoping for upgrades to her building’s system and noted protection from potential threats is an important conversation for many.
“We had a situation today where we were told one of our parents has a warrant out for their arrest and we’re wondering whether we need to be concerned or be on lockdown,” Peele said Aug. 30.
“Parents should know that school safety is our top priority,” BCS spokesperson Stacia Harris said. “We are always open to conversations about new ideas and new initiatives that would keep our campuses safe so our teachers and students can focus on teaching and learning.”
School safety is not just about preventing shootings, however.
In addition to the Real Time Intelligence Center camera system, Harris sent a full list of protocols to the Citizen Times, detailing how the system is using its resources to ensure safety measures across the board:
BCS has added one counselor, four social workers, and eight social-emotional skills coaches whose work is to prepare teachers with strategies and resources to create a classroom and whole school culture that is safe and supportive to students. BCS will have a clear focus on setting positive behavior expectations, building empathy and respect to improve social relationships and decrease bullying.
Each BCS School maintains a Safe Schools Plan. This is customized for the campus layout and age of students served. The plan includes mandatory safety drills, table top drills, and staff training such as “Stop the Bleed” and Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Incident Management System courses.
BCS has conducted large-scale, in-person evacuation drills to help staff and students feel comfortable quickly evacuating a campus and staging at a second location for safe and orderly parent pickup. It also holds district-wide safety symposiums to improve its ability to respond to a variety of emergency events. The last symposium featured Chief Tony Pustizzi, the police chief who responded to Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018.
BCS has implemented the state’s “Say Something” anonymous reporting app. Students are trained each year on how to access the app and how to report any concerns they may have. It’s available for grades six and up. Students are able to report a variety of safety concerns via phone, computer or the mobile app. K-5 uses a similar safety reporting notification system.
BCS student emails and Google Drive/OneDrive are monitored for concerning language and key words and flagged messages are reviewed by SafeMail Human Monitors.
BCS requested funding for “phase two” of exterior door upgrades. Upgrades will include either adding a secure badge access panel to heavily used doors. And the less frequently used doors we will remove the hardware on the exterior so it is exit only.
Each school utilizes the LobbyGuard visitor check-in system which screens all visitors.
In 2019, Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools hired a consultant to provide an analysis of the security of all of campuses. They have since started implementing security updates such as lobby reconfiguration to better allow office staff to monitor school entrances. “We can share that based on the results of that study, we have implemented security related professional development courses for all BCS staff," Harris said. "We have begun construction on several security projects that require capital investments. We have also added board policy to reflect some of our newer security practices.”
BCS upgraded its public safety radio signal so that first responders have a better emergency radio signal on campuses.
All this is part of a model meant largely to prevent tragedy and in which the Sheriff's Office continues to play a significant role. Sarver said there is a single detective responsible for looking into threats and acting on them if necessary, something Sheriff Quentin Miller highlighted in a first-day-of-school Facebook post.
“The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office will investigate school shooting threats to the fullest extent possible and our investigations will continue until we are able to rule out every possible threat scenario,” Miller said Aug. 29. “We are committed to ensuring the safety and security of our schools.”
Andrew Jones is an investigative reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at @arjonesreports on Facebook and Twitter, 828-226-6203 or arjones@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: BCS staying safe in 2022 with cameras, reporting apps, SROs, more
