MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Safety in Monongalia County Schools is a top priority and constant concern for the Director of Safe Schools and Athletics, Adam Henkins.
Henkins said the system tries to mitigate disputes or situations that could boil over before they do. In the background, officials review facilities and develop response plans in case the worst-case scenario should play out.
“We’re trying to be preventive instead of reactive, and both of those go hand-in-hand,” Henkins said on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.” “We have to do our job to be preventive in many cases, and we’re working very hard on a crisis plan.”
The facility analysis includes mapping and providing video of all 19 buildings that can be given to first responders ahead of time. If the call for help were to come, police and fire personnel would have access to all those details through an app on a phone or a laptop.
“We have cameras, multiple cameras on every corner of every corner of every school,” Henkins said. “So, with the digital mapping program, it’s going to give us the advantage of being able to cover our facilities quicker in a crisis situation.”
When the district receives threats, Henkins said they are all taken seriously no matter where they come from. When threats are received, the plans developed at the district and building level are immediately put into motion.
“They can shut a system down very quickly because we have to react, we have to take action, we can’t just assume it’s a scam,” Henkins said. “Those get very serious very quick.”
The district also has a mix of School Resource Officers (SRO) and School Safety Officers (SSO). The two groups are a mix of active and retired officers that are visible during arrival, departure, and recess times through partnerships including the Monongalia County Commission and Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department.
“We’ve been able to use the code that allows us to hire retired law enforcement officers and we have a great group of gentlemen right now that love being school resource officers,” Henkins said.
Some of the buildings have regularly assigned officers that work with the student population to be preventive or respond to an emergency if needed. As the budget allows, it is the intention of the district to add more officers.
“We also have a gentleman that is a roamer,” Henkins said. “We hired an additional person that roams, so when officer A isn’t at school B, then our roamer fills in at that school, so there’s a presence at every school every day.”