A lengthy meeting with the Wake County superintendent has left some parents upset about the school system’s approach to safety.
Parents told WRAL News they think Superintendent Robert Taylor means well, but they don’t think the school system is doing enough to improve school safety.
That feeling was triggered, they say, at a meeting at Durant Road Elementary on Monday, which was originally focused on facilities with about 50 people in attendance.
Parents brought up concerns to Taylor about school shootings and said Taylor responded by saying he believed some mass shootings would happen, and schools have to minimize them and any damage.
That angered parents like Heidi Belisle, the school’s PTA president, who wanted to hear Taylor explain, step-by-step, what the district is doing to improve school safety. She took to social media, posting in a Facebook group for Raleigh mothers, to express her feelings about Taylor’s comments, resulting in hundreds of interactions.
“Our children and teachers deserve safe learning environments, and these discussions matter,” she wrote.
In a statement, Taylor told WRAL News, in part, “Every student and staff member’s safety matters deeply to me. No loss or injury is ever acceptable.”
District officials did not record the meeting, and parents who spoke with WRAL News said they did not record it, either.
The discussion about safety took place at the end of a two-hour-long meeting that largely concerned the conditions of bathrooms, trailer classrooms and other facilities, and was not focused on safety.
Tensions were high to start the meeting and were only higher by the end, parents said.
Belisle noted the length and tense nature of the meeting and said those things likely had an impact as the meeting went on and as the conversation about school safety took place.
“The comment probably was said in the heat of the moment, but I do think that, you know, an apology or clarification definitely goes a long ways,” she told WRAL News.
Had she heard Taylor subsequently list all of the ways the district is improving safety, she would have been less angry at his comments, she said. She wanted him to say that no one in a school is expected to take a bullet.
Belisle said that despite the anger at the meeting, Taylor stuck around and talked with parents and teachers afterward, though she did not talk to him.
On Thursday, Taylor released a statement to news outlets about the meeting and Belisle’s Facebook post, but did not answer questions, including about how the district is approaching the prevention of school shootings or about what would help reduce shootings.
“I understand that my comments regarding school safety have caused concern for some families. I want to assure our community that student and staff safety remains my top priority. Teachers cannot effectively teach children if they are not safe. Every square foot of a school campus is considered when addressing safety needs. Every student and staff member’s safety matters deeply to me. No loss or injury is ever acceptable.”Robert Taylor, Wake County Public Schools Superintendent
Taylor said his comments were “part of a conversation and were in response to a question regarding school safety and mobile units.”
“When considering school safety, I shared that people intent on causing harm will find a way to do so, but our task is always to prevent any incident,” he continued. “I used an analogy to emphasize that no place is completely immune from harm, even highly secured facilities. My intent was to highlight the importance of ongoing vigilance-not to suggest any level of harm is acceptable.”
Taylor said when officials consider school safety, all plans, hardware, software, and drills are “a process to prevent harm to children and teachers,” which he said are made “less effective” by human behavior.
“We currently use weapons detections systems and a host of other approaches for school safety. We consider all methods of securing schools, mobile buildings, and grounds, and we have never eliminated the singular or combined use of any methods,” he said. “We constantly address school safety and prepare our schools to respond accordingly. Nothing matters more to me than the safety of our students and staff.”