School safety concerns linger after Virginia shootings

   PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – Following the shootings at Virginia Tech on April 16 that have claimed 32 lives to date and left several individuals hospitalized, Maine educational facilities and law enforcement have begun assessing safety issues at such facilities.
    Local police continue to work with schools to ensure student safety, be it at the elementary, middle school, high school or college level.
“We’ve been working with them for years, addressing ways to keep students and staff safe,” said Chief Naldo Gagnon, of the Presque Isle Police Department. “We respond promptly to any calls and answer questions and address concerns as quickly as possible.”
“We make our presence known,” added Det. William Scull, of the PIPD.
Police in other communities are doing likewise, working closely with schools to prevent problems from escalating.
“We have a small community. Our department keeps in contact with school officials” to keep abreast of what’s going on at the schools, said Chief Cyr Martin, of the Ashland Police Department, who also serves as the chairman for the Ashland School Board.
“We’ve been overlooking our policies on school safety. We’re working with the school system to stay updated on issues,” said Chief Doug Conroy, of the Washburn Police Department. “Washburn’s smaller population plays a role in reducing incidents of any kind, since everyone seems to know everyone else in the community.”
At the college campus level, President Don Zillman said officials gathered recently at the University of Maine at Presque Isle to review safety procedures and brainstorm ways of improving security while maintaining the freedoms associated with campus life.
“We had a service on Tuesday (April 17) that was a combination of pain and grief, combined with a bit of discussion of what issues we have (at UMPI) and what we should be doing,” said Zillman.
The gathering was open to students, faculty and staff.
“Some things that came out of that meeting included taking a look at all of our security procedures,” he said.
Another measure discussed, according to Zillman, was reconstituting the Campus Safety Committee that had dissolved a few years ago. Zillman indicated some of the soundest advice came from Greg Daniels, head of campus security, and Dick Ayre, head of the Criminal Justice Department.
“We have to beware of overreacting. We don’t want to be counterproductive,” said Zillman.
One item of discussion included what direction doors should swing.
“We even considered which way doors should go. In the event of a fire, you want them to push out. But in the invent of an intruder, you want to be able to hold a door shut,” said Zillman.
Zillman said security was a matter that would take some time and consideration.
“We’re looking at our options. We’ll do some hard thinking over the summer,” he said. “We’ll see if this (Virginia shootings) gives rise to state and federal legislation addressing the issue of campus safety.”
One safety factor on campus that received approval at the meeting involved access to dorm buildings.
“One of the factors that people sort of appreciated concerned the dorms going to 24/7 pass-key systems – both in light of sexual offenders not gaining access or an incident like Virginia,” said Zillman.
Zillman said the incident at Virginia Tech hit home at UMPI, since one faculty member is a former graduate and another member of the campus system was actually at the Virginia campus when the shootings took place.
“Kevin McCarney is a Virginia Tech graduate, so it really hit close to home for him. And one of our faculty recruits took a plane the Saturday before the shootings – was headed to Virginia Tech to finish his doctoral work. He and his wife were locked in a room when the shooting was going on,” said Zillman.
Zillman said although the University of Maine at Orono received a bomb threat following the shootings, UMPI has been fortunate not to have had anything of the like.
“Knock wood, no, we haven’t had anything happen. We’ve been fortunate it hasn’t happened here,” said Zillman, adding, “nothing is ever certain, whether you’re at a small university or large facility.”
Zillman concluded by saying campus officials were, “not rushing into anything. It’s too precipitous at this point.”
Police advise anyone seeing or hearing anything suspicious to contact local law enforcement or notify campus authorities.
“The public can be a good deterrent when it comes to problems. Report suspicious activity,” said Gagnon.