New school safety program in Fountain calls on community to play big role

Parents at one local district are taking a new approach and stepping up to keep their schools safe. A new security plan at Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 calls on parents to play a hands-on role.

It was all discussed during a town hall Thursday evening. Leaders with the district and local law enforcement want to spearhead new ways of keeping students and faculty safe.

At the meeting, they said they are doubling the amount of school resource officers from seven to 15. Now, there will be an SRO at each one of their schools. In the past, one SRO officer would rotate between each of the elementary schools.

Next is changing the way people enter schools. Those four elementary schools are redesigning their entrances so everyone who walks in has to be checked before entering.

Mandy Heberer the assistant principal at Eagleside Elementary says, “Parents are still welcome in the building they get greeted at the door. However, there is that extra locked door that they need to be cleared through security before they can enter where students are.”

The biggest initiative the district and police are starting is a watchdog program called Hawkeyes, where volunteers in the community are trained by law enforcement to watch the outside of the school and stop any threats before they reach the front door.

Deputy police chief for Fountain Tommy Coates says, “Anything suspicious in nature to be able to report that back to the school resource officers who are in the building so that we are moving outside the front doors to stop a potential threat.”

Volunteers would be unarmed and have to undergo a background check. Some in the audience, including Melissa Patrone, who has two kids attending district eight schools, say they would volunteer for the program.

“I think getting parents involved and to ensure our kids are as safe as can be,” Patrone says, “I think that is really going to be a great additional resource.”

The issue with the program is that it may be difficult to find people to sign up and take the training course. Officials say everything is still in the beginning stages and they will have to wait and see how many people sign up.