Sunflower County Board of Supervisors’ President Glenn Donald and his fellow county lawmakers have set dates for two public meetings to address school safety in the county.
The first session is planned for 6 p.m., Thursday, March 1 on the second floor of the courthouse and the second is scheduled for the following week at a yet to be determined venue on the north end of the county.
The purpose of these forums is to discuss practical measures that can be implemented to proactively protect the county’s youth in the event of an active shooter scenario in a school.
Referencing the recent Florida shooting, Donald said, “no other country has something like this but America. I don’t want to wait until something happens to try to put something in place. The writing is on the wall. The warning is here.”
Donald told the board members that he had already talked to Sheriff James Haywood, the SCCSD campus police chief, and Superintendent Miskia Davis about holding the public meetings and they are in agreement. That is what led to him enlisting the board’s support.
“I am asking the board of supervisors to get with me on this,” he said. “We need to be proactive and secure our schools and we’re not just talking about public schools, but all schools in the county.” Donald said they should not wait for something to happen or wait for the government to do something. Guns are going to be bought (there’s) no way to stop it.”
Donald is advocating getting parents, law enforcement, officials and the community at-large together to dialog about what can be done.
He said now is the time to sit down and start talking and finding resources. Donald said that county and city administrators should not wait until budget time but make plans now in case funds need to be allocated.
One measure Donald suggests and believes would help is to have a law enforcement vehicle on each campus all day, every day.
He said that could deter a lot of wrongdoing. “Student and teachers need to be able to go to school and feel like they are safe there, you’re not going to get a child to learn in an environment where he’s scared.”
Haywood agreed with Donald’s view that now is the time to begin planning and added that it is a good idea to address the problem, get community feedback and formulate a unified plan of action. He said something needs to be done, “We all need to be on the same page, because tragedy can happen anywhere. We’ve been very fortunate.”
“We need some type of order, some type of system,” he said.
As an example, Haywood mentioned the inevitability of having to properly manage the people who will show up in the event of an incident.
“You can’t stop parents from coming, so you will need procedures in place,” Haywood said.
Haywood said training sessions to practice the procedures are also essential.
And although school resource officers are capable, Haywood said tactical training is needed. And because of the size of certain schools more than one officer may be needed on campus.
Law enforcement officials will do the presenting at the sessions. The sheriff asserted that people need to be mindful of the possibility of danger.
“A lot of people don’t realize the reality of someone possibly shooting at them,” he said, “In times past parents sent children to school knowing they would be safe, but now they are never sure if the children will come home safely.”
Supervisor Gloria Dickerson questioned what happens after the conversations end but Donald said that they should not allow them to end. Dickerson suggested that the county officials be responsible for keeping them going,
