Lake County Gazette

At its Feb. 21 meeting, the North Shore School District 112 Board of Education (BOE) discussed the results of a new school safety report.

Paul Timm and Randy Braverman were the representatives of their school safety study. Both have years of experience in public safety and school safety, along with combined experience as school resource officers, studying Physical Safety, and in law enforcement throughout the state. The representatives were contracted to conduct the study before the July 4 shooting in Highland Park, after which it became an even more serious matter for the district. The BOE heard the results of their school security audit.

Members of the board, prior to the open-session meeting, met in a closed session with Timm and Braverman.

"What's really heartening for me as a superintendent of schools, about 99.9% of the conversation is the same," Superintendent Michael Lubelfeld said in the meeting. "Board members are able to get access to information that isn't readily available to the public so that we can keep our students safe and assets are protected. However, what's been a really thoughtful part of this entire process is we in District 112, the board, the administration, the community have supported, as Paul mentioned, regular routine audits and then action, audits and then action."

After the Highland Park shooting, North Shore voters on Nov. 8 approved $6 million for "physical hardening" of all campuses, Lubelfeld added.

"In addition, [we] continue to do training on response protocols and behavioral threat assessment, and this is a regular integrated part of our culture, of our behavior, of our essence and of our being," he said. "So I'm grateful to the board for the abundance of deep questions of a security for the district level in closed session and obviously encourage you to ask any questions here. But I just want the community to know this is a this is a daily occurrence."

Timm explained the procedure of the evaluation, which involves going into all of the schools and evaluating deterrence, detection, delay, and response categories. It is an all-encompassing evaluation that goes as far as seeing if the landscaping is properly trimmed for natural surveillance, quality of interior and exterior lighting, the visitor management procedures, interior communication systems, and even the quality and condition of all the doors in the building.

Braverman also went to the schools regularly to observe their routine operations—recess, release and pick up, morning drop off, etc.—and what the security levels and procedures were for those moments and how secure they were. He noted that in all his visits, those procedures were done excellently.

Timm and Braverman have also been providing training for many levels of staff, especially custodial and secretaries. The representatives stated that all the projects they had been working on with custodial and security teams were being changed, upgraded and regularly checked, just as they recommended.

The security team provided final reports on each of the school buildings with findings and suggestions written out in a prioritized list, which the team can help the district with in the coming months. The team has also expanded to the broader community, working at the local library and other buildings to improve security.