Prior to last week, school shootings seemed very distant from Minnesota. With shootings at Columbine in Littleton, Colo., at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Ark., and Thurston High School in Springfield, Ore., the tragedies seemed removed. However, last week’s shooting at ROCORI High School brings incidents of violence much closer. Kimball school staff said Monday, Sept. 29, most students seem unaffected. Kimball Area High School guidance counselor Dick Grommesh said most students in Kimball seem to have distanced themselves from the ROCORI act. “The students marked it as an event that happened, but they think that it happened to someone else. The students are not all that concerned,” Grommesh said. Secondary principal Karen Imholte added, “It is safe to say that students are concerned that it happened so close.” Elementary principal Jon Clark said that one parent wrote to him about the tragedy. “One child brought in a letter [from a parent], saying that it happened there, but asking what are we doing here,” Clark said. To answer this question, the administration said that they have crisis policies in place contracted through the MacNeil Environmental, Inc. company. Imholte was quick to show the schools’ 3-inch binder entitled “Crisis Management Program.” The binder contained policies on recommended courses of action for different emergency situations, including how to handle terrorist attacks, gas odors, or floods, among others. The policy also lays out a plan for school shootings. “We have a plan in place,” Imholte said. “We will work toward this.” The schools said that they haven’t practiced the Code Red/ Lockdown policy. However, they are creating a plan. “We have a high school crisis team that will meet Wednesday morning [to discuss what we will do],” Imholte said. “We are going to identify goals at that meeting and schedule a larger crisis planning meeting to include the elementary school, the high school and the community.” Jon Clark said that KES is also working on their plan. “[Tuesday, Sept. 30] we have a staff meeting to talk about our crisis plan.” Clark noted that the elementary staff has to be extra cautious when dealing with an emergency drill. “We want to be calming and careful of what we tell kids [so we don’t cause alarm],” Clark said. Besides practicing for drills, and preparing schools for lock-down situations, the school also takes preventative measures to keep students safe. Imholte noted that the high school has an effective weapons policy and discipline policies. “We rely on students reporting and teachers overhearing. We take seriously and investigate all reports,” Imholte said. Learning from ROCORI After the event, on Wednesday evening, ROCORI Superintendent Scott Staska told Tri-County News that staff members practiced the Code Red plan without students before the school year began. He credited the staff’s quick response to their drill. “Our practice run was not as effective as we would have liked it to be, some doors were left open,” Staska said. “This gave us an opportunity to identify those issues [that were problematic and resolve them].” Staska praised his staff for their quick response in the actual Code Red situation. He said that, having just gone through the practice, the staff’s response was incredible. “When the situation was noticed, the high school office was notified [immediately],” Staska said. “We were in transition (between classes) and school personnel were in the area … a Code Red was called at that point.” Reflecting on the situation, Staska said that school violence is something schools need to be aware of and prevent against. “Certainly security and safety is something that needs to be addressed,” Staska said. “The unfortunate thing in [school shootings] is that the people involved are intended to be in the building. What kind of security can you use when they are supposed to be here?” Staska did mention that preventative measures can be taken to identify a problem before an incident occurs. He said ROCORI promotes intervention with their students at all grade levels, whether the student is a victim or bully. Their district also implements character education curriculum to address respect, integrity and honesty in all students K-12. Kimball schools react In response to the ROCORI situation, Kimball elementary school sent home a letter to student’s parents and sent out the same letter in the high school newsletter this week. Preventative measures District 739 has also set up preventive measures to curtail potential problems. The district has created a Student Assistance Team made up of counselors, a family therapist and the family advocate. Teachers can make student referrals to this board who may be having problems. The team will look at the situation and assess the best way to assist the student. “This has been around in the school district for years,” Imholte said. “We are looking at ways to make [the board] more accessible to teachers, and we are looking for ways to make it more effective.” Grommesh added that increasing opportunities for student to build relationships with staff also impedes problems. “We went to a homeroom systems to make staff more available to students.” District-wide, Kimball schools also promote respect in hopes of preventing bullying or teasing problems, which is one cause of school violence. “We have a character committee which is looking at respect at the high school. They are trying to find ways to promote building stronger character,” Imholte said. Clark added that the elementary school has developed a two-year cycle of 18 life skills that students should know. This month’s theme is respect, and students learn how to show consideration to others. To reinforce the theme, teachers define the words for their classes, celebrate students acting respectfully and encourage students to write about the topic for the school’s writing wall. Grommesh said that a key aspect to preventive measures is looking at how the victim responds to the teasing or bullying. He said each student needs to be responsible for his or her actions. “We want the students to look at how they respond, react and deal with [teasing]. We need to give the victim some responsibility themselves and determine ‘what are some things I can do?’” Imholte added that parents and the community also need to be involved, which currently seems to be happening. “We really appreciate their (parents) support. When we call them and talk to them about their child, [most are responsive]. This helps end a cycle of bullying and intimidation.” Local law enforcement, clergy and emergency responders are also part of the Kimball crisis response team. For more information on Kimball’s school policies, feel free to contact the high school at (320) 398-7700 or the elementary school at (320) 398-5425. The school also has a board of counselors available to families and students.
