MERIDIAN, Idaho β The West Ada School District's safety plan, including armed, plain-clothes sentinels and wearable alert badges, had its first public reading Monday night at a board meeting where parents, teachers, and staff shared their concerns and support.
The district is looking to add two new safety measures as part of comprehensive security upgrades following increasing concerns about school safety incidents.
Marcus Myers, Chief Academic Officer for West Ada, outlined the district's comprehensive safety framework during his presentation to the board.
"West Ada establishes non-negotiable systems, structures, and instructional practices. We do this to ensure that every student has access to high-quality teaching, a supportive learning environment, and the academic and behavioral supports necessary to maximize growth," Myers said.
Myers demonstrated the wearable alert badge technology, showing a device similar in size to a district ID card that all employees would carry.
"The focus of this technology is to enhance our ability to immediately respond to an incident through a small, discrete device that all West Ada employees will carry," Myers said.
Watch to learn more about WASD's first public reading for campus sentinels.
The device features two response levels: three button presses for localized emergencies and eight or more presses for high-level security alerts requiring lockdown procedures.
"The device includes a mapping feature accessible by school and district safety teams and law enforcement first responders. The mapping feature pinpoints the exact location, time, and staff member alerting the event," Myers said.
Lieutenant Shawn Harper with the Meridian Police Department provided testimony about the proposed campus sentinel program, drawing from his 21 years with Meridian Police and nearly 15 years working with School Resource Officers.
"I recognize a lot of faces that are up here. You guys know my passion behind keeping kids safe," Harper said.
Harper emphasized his personal connection to the district as a West Ada parent and described the evolution of safety improvements over his tenure, including development of Idaho Standard Command Responses for schools now used in 60% of state schools.
"We have 59 campuses... 59 campuses are close to it. We don't have 59 SROs. Nor could we afford 59 SROs, but with this technology, it is going to better assist us in our response on where to go when we get to that campus," Harper said.
Harper addressed staffing challenges affecting SRO availability.
"SROs get called to court. SROs are husbands, mothers, parents, things go on in life and they can't always be at work every single day. And this is where this Sentinel program really comes into play," Harper said.
Harper clarified key differences between SROs and the proposed sentinels to address community concerns.
"I think there needs to be clarity to truly understand that the Sentinel is not an SRO. Their jobs are very, very different," Harper said.
"The Sentinel will look like any other employee within the West Ada School District. There's not going to be any assigned uniform or anything like that. It'll be plain clothes as we call it, and they'll be wearing an ID badge just like every other student and or teacher is expected to wear each and every day," Harper said.
Campus sentinels would be post-certified current or retired law enforcement officers hired directly by the district with comprehensive training requirements.
"There is very, very good training that they will also be put through from emergency preparedness all the way down to high-level firearms training to mental health to de-escalation," Harper said.
Teachers expressed strong support for the wearable alert technology, citing practical classroom applications beyond emergencies.
Jeffrey Watkins, a teacher at Meridian Academy, highlighted discrete communication benefits.
"I've had a lot of things happen in my classroom where it's like, hey, I need to notify somebody, but I don't want to get on the phone in front of the whole class to notify it," Watkins said.
Carmi Scheller, a teacher at Star Elementary with 35 years of experience, expressed confidence in the technology's life-saving potential.
"I really truly believe that a wearable will probably save someone's life in the next year. I just do," Scheller said.
However, several parents raised concerns about the sentinel program. One parent questioned the need for additional armed personnel and the effectiveness of response times across large campuses.
"I don't know how many people we need in a building with a gun," the parent said.
Another parent, who is also a violence prevention vendor, argued for prevention-focused measures alongside response capabilities.
"95% of these things happen in middle and high schools. It's a student, almost exclusively, who is perpetrating the attack. These are inside threats, not outside threats. 100% of these attackers display concerning behaviors up to 2 years in advance of the event," he said.
A former LA County Sheriff's sergeant and West Ada parent provided contrasting testimony, supporting both measures based on his experience responding to a 2019 active shooter incident.
"SROs are awesome, but they can't be there all the time. We have to have another layer of safety and security for our students and our staff members," the parent said.
After demonstrations and public comment, trustees voted to approve the wearable alert technology as part of the district's safety upgrades.
Harper expressed optimism about growing community support as people become more informed about the programs.
"I really think overall, once people are, are more educated on really what it's all about, we're going to see support here," Harper said.
West Ada School District will have two additional hearings before voting on the campus sentinels proposal by at least late January, allowing for continued community input on the armed security component.
