For the next school year, CCSD students in sixth through 12th grades won’t have access to the Internet on their cellphones on campus and must wear ID badges when coming to school.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police Department officers will have an increased presence on campuses as the number of district students hurt in traffic accidents while going to or leaving school doubled this year over the previous year.
Those points were among the highlights of a news conference by district and local police officials Tuesday about school safety this year and in anticipation of the 2024-25 term.
'OUR FOCUS IS ON LEARNING'
Interim Superintendent Dr. Brenda Larsen-Mitchell said a big one will be the activation of devices preventing middle school and high school students from using WiFi to go online with their personal cellphones once they enter a campus.
“Our focus is on learning, so this will eliminate many of the distractions that are caused by cellphones,” Larsen-Mitchell said.
District elementary schools will have the discretion on whether or not to implement it, she said.
“We worked with our elementary principals,” Larsen-Mitchell said. “Some of them experience high usage of cellphones, others do not.”
Another new policy for sixth to 12th graders will be “requiring students to have an ID badge so we are very well aware of who is on our campus.”
The badges, if lost by a student, would cost only $5 to replace, she said.
'WE HAVE TO DO BETTER FOR OUR KIDS'
CCSD Police Chief Henry Blackeye said that traffic at school campuses has become more dangerous for students this year.
“Last year I reported 70 students were struck by vehicles on their way to and from school in the school year,” Blackeye said.
“Unfortunately, this year that number has doubled,” Blackeye said. “We have had a 97 percent increase in the number of students that were struck (while going) to and from school each and every school day.
“I believe the last one occurred yesterday,” he said Tuesday. “We have to do better for our kids. We just have to.”
Driver inattention and speed are the leading causes of the accidents, said Blackeye, who urged members of the public to “please be alert, cautious and careful drivers this summer.”
FIGHT NUMBERS DIP SLIGHTLY
There is some good news, he said. Fights at district schools declined slightly this year and the number of firearms confiscated from students fell to 24 compared with 31 in 2022-23, Blackeye said.
He attributed the reduction in guns to adults who have gained the trust of students to report seeing a firearm at school, “but also the 1,500 canine sniffs that we have conducted throughout this school year and also the enhanced weapon search program that we’ve increased this school year.”
The district plans to add more metal detectors to the schools by around January, Blackeye said.
School police started placing three full-time social workers in each of the district’s three regions this year, resulting in more than 500 referrals from school police “to address social and emotional issues that our officers are observing from our students and our families,” Blackeye said.
Las Vegas police, to help enhance school security, intends to increase the presence of officers next year as students arrive and leave school and in the surrounding neighborhoods on school days, Deputy Chief Branden Clarkson said.
Clarkson said traffic safety is the priority and that he wanted parents not be concerned about the additional officers in and around the schools.
“For the parents and motorists around the schools, I ask you to please slow down and pay full attention to the roadways,” Clarkson said.
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