Campus safety was a topic of discussion during Tuesday evening’s regular Southwestern Community College (SWCC) board of directors meeting.
District 3 (Osceola) Trustee Jerry Smith brought up the subject, saying “Unfortunately, the topic of the day is safety on campus. Do we have ongoing trainings — or how are we trying to deal with some of that kind of stuff?”
SWCC President Barb Crittenden said the college does have various safety plans and procedures to follow for staff in place, but the college does not publicize the details for security reasons.
SWCC Dean of Student Services Beth Kulow briefed the board on what the college’s staff is currently working on, and what they have planned for the future.
“So, after the most recent incident that occurred in the United States,” Kulow said, “we became ALICE certified. ... So we’ve done the online training, and we’ve contacted ALICE about coming on campus.”
ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. The training program is entirely focused around how to respond to an active shooter in a public space.
According to the organization’s website, “We aim to eradicate the ‘It can’t happen to me’ mentality and change the way people everywhere respond to armed intruders. ... Once empowered to make their own life-saving decisions, individuals must be trained in proactive active shooter response options, rather than a passive, mandated, one-size-fits-all response.”
Kulow reported SWCC has already had several training opportunities on campus including a visit from a SWAT team. Another on-campus training program is set for next week, and the college currently offers an online continuing education course in campus security which a number of SWCC’s administration is enrolled in.
“We need to make sure that our emergency response plan is up to date and current,” Kulow said. “We are looking at all the different training methods, and seeing what’s best for our fit. We noticed that a lot of things that are designed for education are designed for K-12 education, and that clearly doesn’t fit our campus.”
As one example of finding the “right fit” for SWCC’s campus, Kulow said the college has had several different groups come on campus and look at the college’s doors, only to find that the commonly used door-lock hinge protector “sleeves” would not be suitable for SWCC’s campus because of fire codes.
“So we’re just having to get innovative for the best solution possible for our campus,” Kulow concluded.
In other SWCC news:
• The college's FY19 budget was approved with no individuals registering written or oral comments during the public hearing. SWCC's estimated taxation rate for FY19 is $0.89741 per $1,000 taxable valuation, which SWCC CFO Tia Samo reported to represent about 2.5 percent of a property owner's total property tax.
• The board approved the resignation of Grant Knotts, chemistry instructor, who will be pursuing a new opportunity at Grand View University. SWCC Vice President of Instruction Bill Taylor said the college will regret losing Knotts, but “It was a good move for him.”
• The board approved an increase in room and board rates for students in FY19. The increase amounts to $200 per year for the college’s newer dorms, and $75 per year for the other housing options. Administrators reported to the board that SWCC’s newer dorms are almost always full, and the decision was made in part to ensure the other dorms are a good financial option for students.
• Samo reported to the board that SWCC accepted a bid from consumer electronics company DataVision to renovate the college’s network infrastructure for $218,632.69, well below the amount Samo was expecting. The college will pay for the work over four years.