D51 Director of Safety and Security Tim Leon

D51 Director of Safety and Security Tim Leon

The Mesa County Valley School District 51 Board of Education on Tuesday night received a comprehensive report on safety and security in local schools from the district’s director of safety and security, Tim Leon, and its crisis coordinator, Jason Talley.

The report detailed the scope of District 51’s security protocols, its partnerships with local law enforcement agencies and its statistics from the 2021-22 school year.

“We were asked by the board and also the community for an update on safety and security,” said District 51 Superintendent Brian Hill. “I asked Tim and Jason to do a real comprehensive update for the board on everything we do around safety and security with the district that we’re allowed to share.”

The school district first hired a safety coordinator in 2012 to ensure that all drills were following district standards for first responders. The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that December prompted the district to form a 25-person safety work group — which included Leon — in 2014 to research and review the best practices and strategies for school safety, review ideas presented from the community about school safety, and make recommendations to the board for improvements to school safety.

Leon was previously a school resource officer and called it “the best job I ever had,” but after Sandy Hook, the dynamics of school security shifted nationwide, including in the Grand Valley.

The group recommended to a unit of well-trained district security officers partnering with law enforcement agencies to provide a safe learning environment for students and staff. The district’s security team includes nine uniformed security officers — with two more still to be hired — as well as the safety coordinator, crisis coordinator, director of safety and security, administrative assistance and three full-time security officers during the summer school season.

Additionally, the district’s partnership with law enforcement has brought on board five members of the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office (including a supervisor), four members of the Grand Junction Police Department (including a supervisor), two members of the Fruita Police Department, one officer from the Palisade Police Department and all Mesa County fire departments.

Law enforcement is assigned to high schools and middle schools, as these are where most criminal acts in the district occur. Security officers oversee elementary schools.

Leon provided an update to the board on how district security and law enforcement are teaming up to keep schools safer this year and into the future. D51 security recently conducted active shooter training with the Fruita Police Department and the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, and will soon be conducting more active shooter training with the Palisade Police Department.

The district is also working with the Grand Junction Police Department and the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office to install community cameras that are “passive” but monitored by the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office’s real-time crime center, with findings of interest presented to the district’s security leadership.

A few schools in the district have already had these community cameras installed, including Central High School.

Law enforcement officials also now have full-time access to district schools, 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Leon said the benefit of this is that, in an emergency, an officer won’t have to wait on a school’s administration to provide entrance for them.

Among the requests by Talley to the board for even stronger security in the future were more fencing at schools to create secure perimeters, door closure indicators, grant funds for more cameras in schools, numbers on classroom windows and exterior doors, an upgrade of the district’s radio system and a video each year that explains the changes in security to the board.

TALLEY’S TASKSThe talk summarized Talley’s job duties, which include conducting threat assessments, heading the psychological crisis response team and promoting Safe2Tell, which was created by the state attorney’s office to provide an anonymous reporting for students, parents, teachers and community members.

Threat assessments for risks of violence are designed to facilitate the gathering of additional information and provide recommendations for interventions that may help mitigate an act of violence and reduce the risk in the future while assisting in developing a response plan by the crisis response team.

In the 2021-22 school year, between the fifth and 1th grades, there were 158 threat assessments completed, with middle school grades leading the way with 31 threat assessments in seventh grade, 29 threat assessments in sixth grade and 27 threat assessments in eighth grade.

Identified indicators of potential violence in the district in 2021-22 were led by ideas and plans (25), grievances (19), comments (11), weapon-seeking (eight) and mounting attacks (three).

Safe2tell statsEach year, Safe2Tell presentations are conducted for each sixth grader, with school administration responding to tips during school hours and D51 Safety and Security officers responding to tips outside of school hours.

There were 547 tips throughout the district during the 2021-2022 school year, up from 474 in 2020-21 but down from the peak of tips in 2018-19 (692). Talley noted that not all tips lead to evidence and that tip statistics shouldn’t be seen as incident statistics.

Of the tips in the district last school year, 168 were for depression, self-harm or suicide threats; 65 were for bullying; 33 were for harassment and threats; and 21 were for assaults, fights and sexual assaults.

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Mostly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 55F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.

A mostly clear sky. Low 52F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.

Clear skies. Low 57F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Partly cloudy. Low 61F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low 59F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

A few clouds from time to time. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.

A few clouds. Low 57F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.

Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.

Check your email for details.

Invalid password or account does not exist

Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.

An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.

Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.

A receipt was sent to your email.