COASTAL OBSERVER

After a two-hour closed-door session to review security issues, the Georgetown County School Board’s safety committee wrapped up three months of work by deciding to let Superintendent Bethany Giles draft its recommendations. 

Giles will present them to the full board on Tuesday.

“This has been about gathering information. We’re still waiting on a few bits and pieces,” said Board Member Fallon Bordner said after the committee’s final meeting last month. 

If there’s something proposed that requires a vote, Bordner said they can vote on it together.

At their final meeting, the committee met with law enforcement officials from Georgetown City Police and the county’s sheriff’s office for the first time. The committee was created in April to review school security.

“As a community we want to be one voice. Law enforcement, school staff, school board, we all want to come together with one voice and make sure that our schools in Georgetown County are the safest that we can make them. That’s our main goal,” said Board Member Robert Cox, who chairs the safety committee.

Maj. Melvyn Garrett, who works with administration for the sheriff’s office, agreed.

“We have to have it. It doesn’t end at 5 o’clock on Friday,” Garrett said. 

Some areas the committee suggested include safety training for staff, combatting vaping in schools and ensuring policies are consistent across the district.

The policy of banning cellphones in schools  has “cut the drama” of fights, said Lt. Ryan Owens, who oversees the student resource officers at the sheriff’s office.

“I think our definition of what a fight looks like, what a fight is, has helped, and just educating our students on making better choices. I wish I could take the credit,” Giles said. “Certainly the overall state consequences of having a cellphone did lessen the drama.”

A main concern among committee members was consistency. 

Alan Walters, the district’s operations director, said consistency is one of his “three C’s” for safety: Consistency, compliance and culture.

“School safety doesn’t stop at the doors or the gates,” Walters said.

The district is looking into new handheld radios as their current system lacks 100 percent reception. 

“It’s not widespread,” said Board Member Scott DuBose. “It’s isolated spots.”

“Just like cellphones,” Cox added.

Walters met with Motorola representatives who suggested replacing all 700 radios. There is at least one school resource officer at each school in the district, who has two radios: one to communicate with the school’s channels and the other in contact with state law enforcement. 

The current reccomendation from the state that there should be one school resource officer per 1,000 students was a topic of discussion for the committee.

“We’re overwhelming them with a lot of responsibility,” saidBoard Member Eileen Johnson.

Owens agreed.

“You wear so many hats. One day, you may be a dad figure. One day, you may be a teacher or a mentor,” Owens said. “There’s so many ways to interact with kids in that capacity that a lot of people, really, don’t truly understand unless they’re there.”

Owens served as a resource officer for 18 years at Carvers Bay, Andrews and Pleasant Hill schools.

“One thing I do miss about being in the schools is you’re like a dad to them. You see them on the street, they run into you, they give you hugs everywhere you go,” he said. “You never know who you’re going to reach. We got guys now that’s working with me, and I was their SRO.” 

They come back to tell Owens that he is the reason they joined law enforcement, he added.