Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, May 16,2018
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 5A
Jessica Brown Dawson County News
Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson tells the House Study Committee on
School Security how his officers work with Dawson County Schools to create
a safe environment during the first study committee meeting at the Dawson
County Board of Education Professional Development Center May 14.
FROM 1A
Safety
“If there was one lesson
that we all, educators that is,
need to learn from
Columbine is that schools
can have no secrets,”
McGiboney said. “If we
don’t have a good relation
ship with the students so that
they will tell us what’s going
on in the school... we’re
operating in the blind.”
Just last month, Governor
Nathan Deal unveiled the
“See Something Send
Something” app to help give
students, parents and com
munity members more
transparency in reporting
safety threats to authorities.
The app is similar to the
IDawson “See Something
Say Something” app
unveiled by Dawson County
Schools in March.
This year the state legisla
ture also approved $16 mil
lion of the FY2019 budget
to be divided among school
districts for local boards of
education to fund security
measures.
“It will be up to the local
boards of education and
superintendents to determine
how to best use their allot
ment and that’s the way it
should be,” Ralston said.
Dawson County Schools
FROM 1A
Election
If you have questions
about your registration
status, voting location or
wish to view a sample
ballot you can visit My
Voter Page at www.mvp.
sosga.gov/MVP/mvp or
call the elections and reg
istration office at (706)
344-3640.
In the primaries, voters
will be able to decide
their party’s candidates
for seats at the county,
state and federal levels
for the Nov. 6 election.
The following local
will be receiving approxi
mately $47,000 from the
state that will be used to par
tially fund security upgrades
that the Dawson County
BOE approved in April,
including hiring a new Safe
Schools Coordinator, two
new school resource officers
and implementing additional
security measures to secure
school buildings.
Dawson County Sheriff
Jeff Johnson was present at
the meeting with other local
law enforcement officials,
and said that law enforce
ment agencies need more
funding if they are to pro
vide school resource offi
cers, and added that one
races will be contested in
the primary:
• Republican candidate
District 3 Board of
Education: Incumbent
Karen Armstrong and Joe
Stapp
• Republican candidate
District 9 state
Representative:
Incumbent Kevin Tanner
and Mark Hajduk
• Democratic candidate
District 9 U.S.
Representative: Dave
Cooper and Josh McCall
• Republican candidate
District 7 state
Representative:
Incumbent David Ralston
and Margaret Williamson
Party candidates for
school resource officer per
school may not be enough
to adequately secure the
campus.
“Our resources are limit
ed. .. if any school resource
officer is out for some rea
son chances are that school
is going without some type
of law enforcement repre
sentation,” Johnson said.
For some, additional
funding is not the only
answer to increased security
in schools.
Fannin County Sheriff
Dane Kirby explained that
the Fannin County board of
education has taken steps to
put more security into the
hands of school officials.
state offices, including
governor and lieutenant
governor, will also be
decided in the primary:
• Republican candidate
for Governor: Casey
Cagle, Eddie Hayes,
Hunter Hill, Brian Kemp,
Clay Tippins, Marc
Urbach and Michael
Williams
• Democratic candidate
for Governor: Stacey
Abrams and Stacey Evans
• Republican candidate
for Lieutenant Governor:
Geoff Duncan, Rick
Jeffares and David Shafer
• Democratic candidate
for Lieutenant Governor:
Sarah Riggs Amico and
Triana Arnold James
Just last week the board
approved allow school staff
to voluntarily carry hol-
stered handguns on campus,
which was met with an
overwhelmingly positive
response according to Kirby.
In a room foil of lawmak
ers, state and local school
board officials and law
enforcement, pinpointing
just one agency to be
responsible for securing
schools didn’t seem to be a
popular approach.
“Everyone is responsible
for the safety and security of
our children,” said Dawson
County Superintendent
Damon Gibbs. “I believe
when - as superintendent of
schools - when anything
happens in the school sys
tem ultimately is my
responsibility.”
Gibbs argued that chang
es in the way funding is
allocated could help school
systems better protect their
students, and said that 88
percent of the board’s bud
get goes directly to paying
for employees, leaving little
left over to be used for secu
rity measures.
Dawson County currently
sits on ESPLOST funds of
$7 million per year that can
not be used to help fund
more security officers and
staff, Gibbs said.
“I would argue that
there’s no better time to talk
about flexibility of funding,”
Gibbs said. “We don’t want
to use all those funds for
people, but a little flexibility
and allowing the local com
munity to vote on an
ESPLOST referendum that
could make that decision on
how much flexibility school
systems can have.”
Gibbs added that the solu
tion to school safety is not a
one-size fits all, as demon
strated by differences in dis
trict size and operating
structures. What works for
Pickens may not work for
Forsyth, so the study com
mittee will have to look at
security measures on a case-
by-case basis.
“School safety is com
plex. School safety is far
reaching. School safety is
not just one area,” said
McGiboney. “The human
element will always be the
most important component
in school safety - always
has been, always will be.”
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