The mandate already applies to central office employees of Metro Nashville Public Schools as well as personnel and students at middle and high schools. The updated policy will now apply to Metro’s 73 elementary schools, extending it to the school district’s entire workforce.
Elementary school students will not be required to wear badges.
Metro school officials say they were already planning to make the move, but the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School accelerated the transition. The school district recently shifted to a new, standardized identification badge — which includes a photo — aimed at consistency across all schools.
The distribution of the new elementary-school badges — to be worn by support staff such as cafeteria workers and custodians as well as teachers — is expected to take place in the coming weeks.
“The security issues that have come up over the last several weeks have kind of inspired us to speed the process up, to go ahead and roll (this) out to the rest of our employees, particularly elementary faculties,” said Fred Carr, the district’s chief operating officer.
“This is going to provide consistency across the district, where all MNPS employees will have a standardized ID badge, which should be easily recognizable,” he said. “Employees will be expected to wear those visibly during work hours.”
After the shooting in Connecticut, the Metro Police Department and school district started reviewing the district’s security policy, which school officials say is strong.
Police department officials are expected to have a discussion on adding a security officer to every elementary school, but the high cost — $50,000 per officer — could be a deterrent.
“There are still lessons to be learned from the incident in Connecticut, and we’re looking to the police department for expertise,” Metro schools spokeswoman Meredith Libbey said.
“We’re in constant communication with them, and always have been, but, obviously, we want to see if there are other changes we can make that will make our schools even safer.”
Source:Tennessean