SALYERSVILLE – Magoffin County Schools are taking measures for a safe new school year, adding new tech to the classrooms to increase safety, as well as expanding SROs across the district.
Magoffin County Schools Superintendent Chris Meadows told Mortimer Media Group, “Safety is key. We want to be as safe as we possibly can. When students feel safe and connected they are open to learning and building relationships, so we want to make sure we do everything we can to be safe.”
Over the summer, he said the Magoffin County High School changed their policy to align with Herald Whitaker Middle School’s policy regarding backpacks, only allowing clear or mesh backpacks.
“When students enter the building, those items may be surveyed and checked, monitored more quickly and more efficiently,” Meadows said, further noting that policy does not affect the elementary schools.
They also have new equipment from Audio Enhancement.
“During my first year as superintendent, I was introduced to this vendor at a state training and basically this is a microphone, and it also serves a safety feature,” Meadows said while wearing one of the new devices. “These are fairly expensive and usually it’s something districts don’t have in their budget, and I was very fortunate that several of the staff members at the central office came together over the last year and we actually wrote a federal grant. It’s the Cops School Violence Prevention Program Grant we were awarded and through that grant we were able to purchase these for all classrooms across the district.”
Meadows explained that the device is a microphone the teacher in the classroom can wear it like a necklace. He said there are speakers installed in the ceilings of the classrooms, allowing students in every area of the room to be able to hear the teacher’s voice clearly and evening.
While the initial intent when this was developed was to improve the sound quality in the classroom, but the company added a safety feature, which Magoffin’s devices also include.
“There are two buttons, one on each side of the device, and if the teacher were to have a classroom emergency – a sick student, a little student scuffle they need some help with, or any type of emergency where they need assistance from the office – if they hold down both those buttons for three seconds, the front office is notified with a floor plan of the building, the room the emergency is in is highlighted on that floor plan, and those office staff can send the appropriate personnel to assist that teacher immediately,” Meadows explained.
“We’re very excited to be incorporating this Audio Enhancement project across the district and that is something that was gotten through a federal grant and we’ve worked on the install this summer.”
They have also been working toward increasing School Resource Officer (SRO) staffing, something they’ve struggled with in the past to find personnel.
“The sheriff’s office has been very helpful in helping us to find people who can serve in these roles,” Meadows said. “This year we will actually for the first time be starting the school year with an SRO stationed at each campus. That means that have four currently contracted: one for the Magoffin County High School campus, one at North Magoffin, one at South Magoffin, and currently one on the campus of SGS and the middle school. Since these two schools are so closely connected here, that is considered one campus.”
He said that though they will have one SRO to cover both Salyersville Grade School and Herald Whitaker Middle School, he explained that it is the intent of the Board of Education to have an SRO in each school, so in the near future we will be looking at placing one in SGS and one in the middle school.
“We will very soon be operating under our own police department,” Meadows said. “The school district has been taking the steps the last several months to be able to be established as Magoffin County Schools Police Department. A lot of districts across the state have started doing that and we are very close. Perhaps by the first of September being ready to operate as our own department.”
Have a safe and happy new school year!
