Calling it an expectation with potential consequences for school personnel, Superintendent Charles Wilson has re-emphasized that doors to the Bulloch County Schools classrooms and buildings must remain locked while school is in session.

He made his remarks to the public during the Thursday, Sept. 12 Board of Education meeting after referring to the deadly Sept. 4 shooting at Apalachee High School near Winder, Georgia, in Barrow County.

“I walked into some schools the day after that unfortunate, very tragic event up in Barrow County, to find that there were some schools with doors unlocked, and classrooms,” Wilson said. “Administrators were checking into it, as well as our SROs, and there were some choice words that are shared by some of those people that let us into those classes.”

In a phone interview Monday, he said the “choice words” reported by others who did the checking were along the lines of “What are you doing bothering my classroom?” and that this made him think that “we’re not digesting the message here” since locking the doors is not a new expectation.

“I think that’s concerning to the entire community, because if the things that we have in place – and we do have that in place, it is an expectation – are not being followed, how can we even explore other options?” he said.

‘Very recent example’

In his remarks during the board meeting, Wilson did not mention any details of the shooting at Apalachee High. Two students and two teachers there died after being shot, and nine other people were injured. A 14-year-old Apalachee High School student has been charged as an adult with four counts of murder, and his father has been charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children for allegedly allowing the shooter access to the gun.

According to news media reports, the shooter had left his algebra class, after which the door automatically locked behind him. When he came back – while someone in the school office was on the intercom asking the teacher where he was – the teacher said, “Oh, he’s here,” another student recalled, as quoted in an Associated Press timeline story. But students who went to the door could see the shooter through a window in the door and refused to open it or backed away, according to various media reports. He then turned and reportedly shot people in a different classroom and in the hallway.

When the multiple gunshots were heard, teachers pushed panic buttons embedded in their employee badges, and Apalachee High went on lockdown, the Associated Press reported. Then school resource officers, known as SROs, approached the shooter, who surrendered to them.

Again, Wilson did not describe what happened in Barrow County except to mention it as “a very recent example,” while emphasizing that doors are to be kept locked during class times at all 15 Bulloch County Schools campuses.

“This is not an empty expectation, and I will unfortunately point to a very recent example as to how important it is that doors be locked, because unfortunately, it’s the path of least resistance thing, and this has to do with the safety of people, especially our children. I know it’s inconvenient. … But there can be no excuse,” he continued during his Sept. 12 “superintendent’s report.”

Adding that he had heard a lot of talk about how “old-school teachers” used to control who went in and out of their classrooms, the Bulloch superintendent said he doesn’t have all the answers and that principals remain in charge of exactly how the procedures are applied.

“But the schools have to be locked, and I want our public to know, I want our parents to know, that is the expectation and will be reinforced,” Wilson said. “We’re going to have some consequences for those who choose to put our children’s safety (behind) their own convenience. I’m just going to put it that bluntly. It has to happen.”

He asked that the board members and staff support this and report any problems to him or schools’ principals.

As one of their security practices, officials do not make all details of the school safety plan public, Wilson noted. But a crisis alert system, including employee badges with panic buttons, has been in place in the Bulloch County Schools for several years, and was made by Centegix, the same company that reportedly made those used at Apalachee High.

Not all have SROs

After adding a deputy as a school resource officer at Portal Elementary School this year, Sheriff Noel Brown and the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office supply nine SROs assigned during the school year to the 10 Bulloch County Schools campuses outside the city limits of Statesboro. Langston Chapel Elementary and Langston Chapel Middle School, which adjoin, share one SRO. Brown also upgraded the SRO supervisory position to the rank of lieutenant.

The school district pays about half the year-round cost of employing and equipping these deputies, and private Bulloch Academy similarly contracts with the Sheriff’s Office for an SRO.

But of the five public schools within Statesboro’s city limits, only Statesboro High has a Statesboro Police Department officer assigned every school day as a resource officer. Additionally, two officers assigned to the department’s Community Outreach Unit also rotate through the high school “so we can increase that presence,” said Statesboro Police Chief Mike Broadhead.

The Community Outreach Unit also has a supervisor, so at times as many as three officers, in addition to the dedicated SRO, are at the high school “helping out like at high-traffic times, mornings and afternoons and around the lunch hour,” Broadhead said in an interview Monday.

Those community outreach officers also handle other duties, including going to the elementary schools at times. However, the four public elementary schools in Statesboro do not have assigned SROs.

“But we send the beat officers who have an elementary school in their zone; they’re supposed to stop in and check on the elementary schools, and those same guys that are rotating in and out of the high school (the Community Outreach Unit) are also rotating in and out of those elementary schools as they can,” Broadhead said.

Asked if SPD officers help check if classroom doors are locked, Broadhead said they would if principals asked.

“Those principals are the ones who run those schools, and we’re just there to assist them, so if they ask us to do something, then of course we’ll do it,” he said. “I just want the officers to be visible around those schools, I want them to understand the floor layouts of those schools so if we ever have to respond to those schools the officers are a step ahead.”