Ever since the shooting in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14, leading to the death of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, America has been in a heated debate over the question: “How can we keep our children safe?”
Many throughout the country have called for stricter gun control, as was showcased in the March For Our Lives event March 24 in Sedona, organized by people throughout the Verde Valley. Others have proposed solutions to make schools more difficult targets, or even to go as far as arming teachers.
Yavapai County’s leaders don’t pretend to have an easy solution. But they are taking the first step — they’re asking the question. At a listening session on Friday, April 6, in Cottonwood, most of the schools in the county, as well as police and fire, the sheriff’s office and numerous nonprofits that deal with at-risk youth, sent representatives to start the discussion.
“We really don’t know what’s needed,” opened Yavapai County Schools Superintendent Tim Carter, referring to a conversation he’d had with a concerned Arizona state legislator. “I can’t give you any empirical data that says, ‘Our four biggest concerns are one, two, three, four.’ I can’t do that. You’re all impacted or affected in some way or another in regards to school safety issues, so when we get started, we’re literally going to want to hear from everyone about what you believe are our biggest concerns.”
There were many answers, some contradictory. Several educators brought up gun control. Many brought up social media. One law enforcement officer argued that outlawing prayer in public schools had made them unsafe. Most agreed
that more counselors were necessary, but also many insisted that parents have to make sure their kids are doing OK, beyond the resources provided at school.
But one issue was heard again and again, from administrators at schools all over the county: School funding.
“I think this is something that’s very much interconnected with school funding as my primary concern,” said one principal at a school in the Verde Valley. “We don’t have enough money to properly secure our classrooms or get
proper perimeter fencing. We don’t have enough money for extracurriculars, which reduces stress in children. We don’t have enough money to teach music in schools. We don’t have appropriate counseling services. We don’t have appropriate training for our teachers. We don’t have appropriate training for students. We don’t have appropriate training for our administrators. When we address the plan each year, I feel that it is rushed because we have so many things that we have need to cover in a very limited amount of time. We’re not paying people enough money to come in on the weekends and help with that, so we spend a lot of time just kind of trying to scramble and make ends meet.”
There was frequent praise around the room for school resource officers, law enforcement officials who are stationed at schools by the local police. But there was also a lamentation that by the time students have caught the attention of a law enforcement official, it’s often too late. Carter brought up the difference between academic counselors, which most schools have, and trained psychiatric counselors, which are much more rare.
“How do we keep somebody from falling through the cracks?” asked Cottonwood Vice Mayor Kyla Allen. She, like many in the room, brought up the importance of good communication, between teachers and students, between teachers and administrators, and between school districts and public safety and support leaders.
None of these issues came close to being solved at the Friday listening session. There will be another listening session Friday, April 13, in Prescott, with the hope of learning more from schools that weren’t able to attend and build on what was discussed at this session. Carter said he hopes to compile the issues discussed at both listening sessions into a more formal report in a few weeks. But until then, the conversation has started, even if it is far from finished.
