Leaders to talk school safety
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on April 27, 2018 5:50 AM
Community leaders will gather to continue the conversation around school safety May 3, as officials in law enforcement, education and public health will hold a school safety action group meeting at the Salvation Army.
Hosted by Operation Unite Goldsboro, the meeting is the continuation of a similar event in early March, where community members gave their opinions on how to handle school safety in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting.
There, they discussed gun control, how to spot potential threats at school and the effectiveness of school resource officers, among other topics.
The second meeting will take the ideas presented to try to turn them into a workable plan, said Mark Colebrook, founder of Operation Unite Goldsboro.
"The difference this time, for one there will be less people there," he said. "It's going to be mostly the different stakeholders and really the decision makers."
The discussion will be split into three main categories, Colebrook said.
First is infrastructure, or how to address the physical needs schools have for keeping students safe. That includes staff, such as school resource officers, and could also include other security measures such as cameras and other physical tools.
The second topic will be mental health, Colebrook said, and the third will be a focus on preventing bullying.
Rep. Larry Bell, a member of the N.C. House select committee on student safety, will attend the meeting to give updates on that committee's activities.
Wayne County Sheriff Larry Pierce and Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West will attend, along with Wayne County Board of Education members Patricia Burden and Raymond Smith. Melissa Shay, vice president of strategy and business development at Wayne UNC Health Care, will also attend, Colebrook said.