Teacher Dawn Stiffler, left, addresses a roomful of concerned parents. Right, Commissioner Tom Hejl looks on and listens.
Dunkirk, MD – A group calling itself Keep Calvert Schools Safe conducted a community meeting Wednesday, Feb. 21 at Dunkirk Volunteer Fire Department (Company 5). The meeting, quickly organized last week after a deadly shooting occurred at a school in Florida, while emotional, was without the stridency of the ongoing debate regarding guns and potential legislation. Instead the focus was on proactive measures that need to be taken to save lives.
It’s unfortunate that we have to talk about this with our kids,” said Tara Remagen, who added she lived in the Florida community where Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is located.
Serviceman Harold Kruger indicated in was sobering to consider that school age children had a better chance of “being killed by some weirdo” than parents do of winning millions in the lottery.
“Anger is not going to solve it,” said Robert P. Hahn, pastor of Chesapeake Church. Hahn served as moderator for the two hour meeting.
One of the event’s scheduled speakers, Dowell Elementary School teacher Dawn Stiffler, told the audience that her school’s current plan for protecting children from an active shooter was insufficient and leaves over 300 students unprotected. “I will no longer silently stand and pretend this is the best we can do for our children,” said Stiffler. “When does this become a high priority?” Stiffler explained the current plan for her classroom is for students to push a table against a door that does not lock. She told the audience and a panel of local leaders—which included two members of the Calvert County Board of Education (BOE)—that it was time for public school parents and teachers to initiate a “call to action with a sense of urgency.” Another teacher, Jeanette Gionfriddo of St. Leonard Elementary School, urged parents to attend BOE meetings to voice their concerns about public safety. Gionfriddo noted that her school has had active shooter training.
Several parents—many with prepared remarks—addressed the meeting and indicated that even with active shooter drills and security devices installed in 2013 at many of the system’s buildings in response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, their feeling about school safety was far from sanguine. Holly Burnham stated that students do not think the policy of “see something, say something” really works. Another parent, Michael Twining, stated the all the security devices do nothing to address “the internal threat.” Twining said school safety and security officers are not following up on reports about students who fit “a certain profile. The school says there’s not anything we can do about it.” He added the BOE needs “to take more measures” to remove the students who fit the internal threat profile.
According to concerned parent Andy House, the school children he has talked to admit they don’t know what they are supposed to do if an active shooter breaches school security. House said he was told his child’s school has had “one drill in five years and it was a joke.” He advised school officials to conduct “a real active shooter drill in every school” at least twice a year.
Arguably the most emotional testimony came from Lindsay Twining, a student at Northern High School. “I feel like we are mice in a cage waiting to be fed to a snake,” she said. The student noted that under the nation’s current laws it is easier for a teenager to buy an assault rifle than it is an alcoholic drink. “That’s not helping. I’ve lived in Russia and I felt safer there.”
“This is our new reality,” said Wes Donovan, whose wife is a teacher and whose children attend elementary school. “We have to be proactive and engaged. We have to talk to our kids.”
Other concerned parent, Richard Goddard, stated that if funding is an issue then county school officials need to start applying for federal grants for addressing threats of terrorism. “The money’s there,” said Goddard. “A terrorist event is anything that scares us. We’re scared.” Goddard also advised any parent who owns guns to “make sure your guns are locked up.”
The panel—BOE members Kelly McConkey and Bill Phelan, county commissioners Tom Hejl and Mike Hart, Sheriff Mike Evans and Deputy State’s Attorney Kathryn A. Marsh—advised attendees on actions that could be taken.
Marsh urged parents to call BOE/Sheriff’s liaison Cpl. Glenn Libby if they feel their concerns about disruptive behavior in schools are not being addressed.
Evans admitted his agency was not able to provide a deputy for every school but did have officers assigned to each of the high schools. “Is it enough? No,” said Evans, adding that the schools’ safety advocates are also limited by school system policies. The sheriff noted that when a possible incident involving a gun was reported last year at Huntingtown High School, deputies responded “in less than a minute.”
Hart said when he was growing up in Calvert County, “we talked to each other.” He urged parents to communicate with their children. “Government cannot fix your child,” said Hart.
Hejl, who spent 40 years in law enforcement before retiring admitted law enforcement can be hamstrung by a lot of laws protecting minors. “All too often we are not allowed to get involved,” he said.
Phalen explained that many of Calvert’s schools were built before the late 1990s, when the massacre at Columbine High in Colorado introduced American society to the dreaded reality of school shootings. While drills, additional police and the installation of school security devices could be helpful, Phalen conceded that, “there isn’t one answer to this problem.”
“I’m as frustrated as everybody in this room,” McConkey declared, adding he would like to see the BOE employ more safety measures. “I can’t do this by myself.”
McConkey, whose wife, Kim, was one of the meeting organizers, said he would like to have a similar meeting for parents, teachers and other concerned citizens in the southern end of Calvert in the near future.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com