Sales tax to fund school safety

Sales tax to fund school safety?

Jonathan Herrmann news-herald.net

Lenoir City’s school safety task force, formed in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, met for the second time to talk about steps that could be taken to better protect students.

Friday’s meeting came just hours after a shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas.

“We’ve had three school shootings in the past eight days, so that is just certainly an indication that we have to change our thought because it doesn’t matter if you’re in a small town in Texas or a large city in California, it can happen,” Don White, Lenoir City police chief, said.

Lenoir City Mayor Tony Aikens led the meeting, asking for input from city and school officials, as well as one Lenoir City High School student.

A potential sales tax increase was discussed as a way to pay for the solutions.

White talked about the need to secure the LCHS campus since students take classes in four separate buildings throughout the day.

“That is a very difficult thing for one police officer to try to keep secure,” White said. “… Even from the accountability side, when you’ve got 1,200-plus students that are going all over that campus every day, I still feel the No. 1 thing we can do to try to have that first layer of insulation is to secure the property with a fence. I think that the secondary thing is to better control the entry and exit point.”

White also suggested installing an electronic keycard system that would let students come and go from certain entrances and exits at LCHS, allowing faculty to know exactly who has entered the building at what entrance, as well as eliminating the need to prop doors open during the day, which he said was a problem.

He also suggested building a new entrance area at the front of the building to create a “buffer” when someone enters.

“The way that that front entry point is, I think that we’ve got a lot of options between where the doors are and where the sidewalk and the roadway begin,” White said. “That’s all covered, so I think we could do some type of construction project that would allow us to move that out and better secure where there is a buffer.”

Jeanne Barker, Lenoir City director of schools, pointed to another area of concern related to violence in schools. The school system received a grant that will allow it to bring in a social worker for the coming school year.

“Another part of it is the social and emotional needs of our students and staff,” she said. “We have received a grant to be able to provide some additional help with that social worker piece.”

The school system is also exploring other technology upgrades, Barker said.

Most in attendance agreed there is a need for at least one additional school resource officer.

“I just assume we’re going to figure out a way to get that done somehow,” White said. “That is the No. 1, we have to do that. I know we’ve got the support of the school system and school board as well as the city. So that would be No. 1. … We’ve got to get that done.”

The big obstacle remaining was paying for possible construction and technology additions at the high school, as well as additional SROs.

Aikens broached the idea of a sales tax increase.

Maggie Hunt, assistant city recorder, said an increase of 3/4 cent would result in an additional $2.9 million annually, while 1/2 cent would bring in $1.89 million.

“If it’s going to protect the children, I think (Lenoir City citizens) would (support it),” Aikens said. “It would be a very small amount, and as far as people being affected by it, not only would local people pay, but tourists coming through would pay as well. I’m not saying that … I support a sales tax situation, but that is one way to pay for it.”

White felt raising the sales tax percentage to make the changes was “great.” Overall the task force was receptive to exploring the possibility.

“We’ve done a lot of work but we’ve done it gradually over time,” Barker said. “There’s some things we need to get done in a timely fashion and that simply takes more money to be able to do that. I think that would be my point. We have some great ideas and there’s some things we can do, we just need to make it physically possible.”