Field hires 2nd school resource officer to keep kids safe after Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy

BRIMFIELD, Ohio - While other cities and towns are trying to figure out what to do to make their schools safer after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, Field Local Schools already has a new plan in place.

The school board is working in conjunction with local police to protect the district's students.

Brimfield Police Chief David Oliver and School Superintendent Beth Coleman said in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, they realize the old ways of safety as it pertains to school shootings has to change.
       
Beginning Monday, the Field Local School District will have a second school resource officer patrolling schools. Previously, only one officer had been responsible for five schools.
 
"There's a lot of conversation going on about banning guns and arming teachers, and we believe and will continue to, that a well trained, armed police officer in the school is going to be the best preventative measure for school violence," explained Oliver.

Coleman said Brimfield, Suffield and the Field Local School Board are each pitching in one-third to make up the $20,000 salary for the new school resource officer, or SRO.

The district has also started using a numbers and letters system to identify rooms and hallways from outside the buildings as a way to direct first responders in the event of an emergency. There are numbers and letters on every door that leads to areas inside the school. Police will also have visibility in some areas of the building from the outside, possibly allowing them to see a dangerous target inside the building.

Coleman said after the Columbine and Sandy Hook tragedies they've decided to try something different because the old ways of teaching children to drop to the ground and tuck their heads while locking down rooms no longer works.

"The one thing about the Sandy Hook tragedy was that those were little kids, those were soft targets and we started to think about the fact that we lock down and we hide, and we're basically waiting to see what will happen and are hoping for the best," Coleman explained. "We started thinking maybe there are other ways. If I'm in a section of the building where there are no gunshots, we need to evacuate and get those kids out."

Coleman said a former SRO came up with the numbers and letters system.

"The letters depict hallways the numbers depict classrooms. As police officers are arriving, anyone can call and say the shooter is in hallway D, room one and they can see from the outside where they need to respond," she explained.

According to Coleman they're taking this very seriously.

"We've learned a lot from Columbine. One of the things that's really sad is that those kids sat in the library at Columbine for seven minutes and there was an exit out the back of the library that they could've self evacuated. But they had been taught to duck and cover and wait for help."

Coleman refuses to allow this to happen on her watch.

Meanwhile, Chief Oliver said they're not getting caught up in the politics of what to do where it pertains to guns in schools, and how to protect students. Instead, he said they're choosing to be proactive.
 
"While everyone else is still arguing on what to do, we're moving forward."