Safety exercise planned for Monday in Conneaut

Nov. 17—CONNEAUT — The Conneaut Area City Schools are planning a safety exercise for staff on Monday.

Eric Kujala, a district employee focused on improving school safety in the district, said at a Conneaut School Board meeting on Wednesday the training will take place on Monday, in conjunction with the district's resource officer, Tim Rose, and Conneaut Police Chief Michael Colby.

Rose said the training will be a cold drill, meaning teachers will not be told what is coming, beyond the fact that a safety drill will be conducted.

"Too many times in training for us, for use of force, if you have an idea what's coming you're already at a heightened sense of awareness, and you tend to do things you normally wouldn't do, thinking outside the box, on a normal, typical day," Rose said. "So I'm not going to give them that opportunity. That's why I feel it's important to do a cold drill, then actually sit down, ask them, 'what went through your mind? What were your plans? Did you have a plan?'

"Because, most of the time the plan goes out the window when you're not prepared," he said.

Kujala said a survey will be sent out to staff after the event.

Superintendent Lori Riley said district leadership understands having students conduct a remote day on Monday isn't ideal, but there isn't another opportunity for this training to take place.

Community Counseling has also been invited to speak to staff regarding trauma faced by students and staff during crises.

A number of teachers will also receive de-escalation training on Monday, Kujala said.

"Last year, we trained 19 teachers and staff members in (this) training, this year we'll have an additional 24 that will be trained," Kujala said.

Kujala also spoke about a $200,000 grant the district received to improve safety in district buildings.

"With that, we are going to update our systems, working with Brian Chase with technology, we thought that was very important because that's the key component to keep everything running," he said. "We're going to update our power supply, our systems, all of our keyless entries for the staff to get in, and the office to be able to permit people to get in, and then all of the camera systems in all four buildings."

Security at Lakeshore Primary School was improved last year, with the district's own funds, he said.

In other business:

—The school board approved a $500 COVID-19 retention payment to district staff actively employed as of Nov. 1, excluding the superintendent and treasurer.

The payment is intended to help the district retain qualified employees, Riley said.

"We do appreciate the staff still hanging in with us," she said.

The funds will hopefully be direct deposited in employees accounts on Friday, Treasurer Jackie Miranda said.

"We'd like them to have it before Thanksgiving," she said.

—The board approved the district's five year forecast.

Miranda said the district is expected to be in the black for the next two years, then after COVID-19 relief funds run out, the district will begin deficit spending.

The district's revenue is not increasing significantly, but costs continue to increase, she said.

The district is looking at how to manage the situation, Miranda said.