CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – The Montgomery County School Board heard results from a safety survey for the first time at their regular meeting on Tuesday.
Back in late January, the district sent out a survey for people to respond to regarding safety priorities in schools. The survey asked families to select from a list their top three safety measures that they consider a priority.
Over a month later, the school board is learning the results and some of the recommendations the district has.
According to the results, these are the top four priorities for the respondents:
- Install a locking door on all classroom spaces (549 selections),
- Increase SRO staffing to a full-time position at each school (547 selections),
- Install door barricade systems for classrooms (417 selections),
- Install metal detectors at main entry points to schools (415 selections).
Based on the results, the district is asking the board to look into costs and potential funding avenues to possibly implement some of the recommendations.
Jason Garretson, the Director of Student Services and Safety, presented the results and recommendations to the board at their meeting. Overall, there is a wide range of people feeling either comfortable or uncomfortable with the current protocols and measures in place.
“We really got a great collection of true responses that I believe speak people’s opinions, speak their hearts. They range across the board from ‘hey our schools are already safe ... we don’t need these extra things’ to ‘my heart aches we even have to make these decisions today,’” Garretson said.
The board did not vote on any new safety measures during the meeting.