OPS making strides toward state's safety law

Jun. 13—Outgoing director of transportation and security for Owensboro Public Schools, Chris Gaddis recently provided district officials with a final update along with recommendations on how the district can move forward in the areas of safety, security and emergency response.

Gaddis said that the review was intended to let board members and district officials know how OPS is faring as the deadline for a recently enacted school safety bill, known as Senate Bill 1, was passed last year.

"All of our school buildings have been reviewed twice since the implementation of Senate Bill One," Gaddis said during the meeting. "Some minor things that were brought to our attention, but in the event that this was all the sudden July 1, 2022, we would have very little that we are not in compliance with now."

OPS currently uses a combination of security tools, such as access controls, phone applications and school resource officers to handle its security needs.

Gaddis said OPS was already in the process of implementing some of the newly required safety measures before Senate Bill 1 was signed into law.

"The three main components of Senate Bill 1 were school resource officers, access controls and mental health counselors, and as you well know that is something that our district is really focused on right now," he said.

In order to enter an OPS building, individuals must be checked in through the district's Identi-Kit system, which requires a driver's license to be scanned to check for sex offender records before anyone is admitted.

The district also utilizes a phone application called CrisisGo, which allows all OPS employees to be notified on emergency situation a the same time.

An application through the city of Owensboro called Active 911 allows the district to be aware of when an emergency situation is called into the police department.

"What that feature allows us to do is, we are getting the information at the same time a police officer is getting the information to go to a scene," Gaddis said.

This eliminates the need for police to contact the schools after their arrival at an emergency scene such as a shooting, stabbing, gas leak or structure fire.

"Those are sort of our three platforms that we have instituted over the last 3-4 years in regards to different pieces of schools safety," Gaddis said. "Being notified as quick as possible, getting the word out as quick as possible and securing our buildings and knowing who is in our buildings at all times."

Gaddis said he has been asked from time to time if he believes it is necessary for OPS to institute its own police agency, as some other districts across the nation have chosen to do during the last few years.

"One thing that I would recommend as we move forward down the road, no we don't need our own police department, but I see us eventually having more or less a safety dispatch center," he said.

Gaddis also recommended the district continue expanding its security cameras and access point monitoring throughout the district.

Nathan Havenner, Messenger-Inquirer, nhavenner@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-228-2837

Nathan Havenner, Messenger-Inquirer, nhavenner@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-228-2837