A new statewide school safety and security initiative has launched, Idaho EdNews reports, pursuant to legislation that passed this year and was sponsored by Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls. The new Idaho Office of School Safety and Security is housed within the Idaho Division of Building Safety. Its manager, Brian Armes, a former Idaho teacher and principal, will work with a team of three security consultants stationed in Pocatello, Meridian and Coeur d’Alene. The group will perform school security assessments, along with follow-up training and recommendations, on every public school in the state over the next three years; they completed their first one last week in Mountain Home.
Armes and the new Pocatello-based security consultant, Guy Bliesner, both formerly worked for the Bonneville Joint School District; the two left the district to from a school security consulting business several years ago called Educators Eyes. They helped the state complete a series of threat assessments at 74 Idaho schools after the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, and found that unauthorized adults were able to enter 71 of the 74 schools through points other than the schools’ designated main entrances, among other security vulnerabilities.
The new school safety and security initiative also includes a public awareness campaign entitled “See Tell Now!” EdNews reporter Clark Corbin has a full report here.
Via Eye on Boise