Originally posted 6 p.m. March 8, 2024

Updated 10:20 a.m. March 11, 2024, to reflect that school safety improvements described by Director of School Safety Sean Edgar are ongoing but not completed.

MOULTRIE — At February’s school board meeting, a parent made an impassioned plea for more security on all of the school system’s campuses.

As it is the board of education’s policy to listen to audience concerns and not respond during the meeting but address them at a later time with the individual, the parent was allowed an uninterrupted five minutes to talk.

“I’m here today to express my deep concern to our school system for the lack of prioritization you have placed on school safety in our county,” said Adrienne Smith, who said she was the mother of a Pre-K student and the wife of a Colquitt County School System employee. “I was shocked to recently find out that we do not have an SRO (School Resource Officer) permanently placed at every school and that two to three SRO’s are rotating between all elementary schools.”

She went on to say, “While we sit here worried about test scores and new buildings and athletics, what does any of that matter if we cannot first ensure the safety of our children?”

She said that when she spoke with Sheriff Rod Howell about it, the response was that there were too many elementary schools and that his office didn’t have the manpower or the resources to make it happen.

“I have immense respect for Sheriff Howell and if he says this, it must be true. Although I find this to be an unacceptable answer to this plea, it does put us in a position to find an alternative solution,” she said.

She suggested that the school system either hire an armed guard service to be present at each school or have armed teachers and administrators.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones announced last October that he wanted to pay teachers $10,000 a year to carry guns in schools. The legislation was to have been introduced at the General Assembly during this legislative session. There have been no more announcements about the proposal since last year.

When asked, state Rep. Chas Cannon, who also serves as the Colquitt County administrator, said that he didn’t believe that there was actual legislation about Jones’ proposal but there was about $45,000 allocated for each school in the state to be used for additional security measures and it would be up to each school system for how to spend it.

“Locally, we’ve worked pretty close with the sheriff’s office and the superintendent on employing SROs,” Cannon said. “It’s an important topic of discussion every year during budget.”

Smith told the board that she knew that her husband and others in the school system would be willing to be trained to carry a firearm and be the designated armed individuals on their campuses.

“Sheriff Howell has offered to take on this liability and training for this,” she said.

She also said that the high transition of superintendents has caused a roadblock in making progress on the issue.

“I stand before you today and I am not addressing our retired superintendent or even our new superintendent because, frankly, with making progress on this, they don’t matter. I am talking to you the school board. You have the power to make this happen,” Smith said.

She asked the board to have it figured out by the 2024-25 school year. When contacted a few days after the meeting, Smith said the school system’s safety director had been in touch with her.

Sean Edgar, Director of School Safety, told The Observer, “We fully understand Mrs. Smith’s concerns about staffing school resource officers at every elementary school. We currently have ten school resource officers who work not only during the school day but also after-school activities.”

He said the school system has been working diligently to seek avenues to increase the number of resource officers and have also implemented other safety measures including adding cameras to every classroom and allowing law enforcement access to those cameras.

“We are working on improving our facilities with added fencing, keyless entries, updated ID check systems for visitors, and more,” Edgar said.

Every employee in the school system has a Centegix Alert badge, used to signal an emergency, showing who sent the alert and where they are located. The alert goes to both the school administration and law enforcement simultaneously. Also implemented within the school system, he said, was Anonymous Alerts for anyone, anywhere, to submit concerns that will be routed to the appropriate responder.

“As the Director of School Safety, I constantly evaluate our schools for ways to reinforce safety protocols,” he said. “We are working on safety every day of every week. The Superintendent and Board have provided guidance and funding to make the district safe for all students and employees. Our partnership with the Sheriff’s Department and the local police departments is one of the best I’ve seen and will continue. We thank parents like Mrs. Smith, who ask the hard questions and want to be involved in these conversations.”