BY MIRIAM SMITH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- Students hoping to pull a fast one by pulling the fire alarm may soon be more than the source of snickers and playground gossip. They may also be the subject of an anonymous call placed to school officials.
Warren County commissioners are expected Thursday to approve a measure giving each school district in the county -- public and private -- access to its own 800-number for citizens to report safety concerns.
Commissioner Larry Crisenbery said, "All the commissioners are on board" for the two-year pilot project, which is to cost $16,000 annually. School officials will discuss the idea with commissioners Thursday.
"Commissioners will pick this up. I feel any deterrent from carrying guns, drugs and alcohol in schools will be very, very helpful to the (schools') administration before it happens," Mr. Crisenbery said.
If commissioners approve it at their Thursday meeting, the program is expected to be operating within a month, he said.
Butler County commissioners recently adopted a similar measure. If approved, each Warren County district would be assigned a different phone number for the public to report incidents or concerns involving students in grades 7-12.
The move would have a "significant impact" on the number of problems facing local schools, said Dave Query, superintendent of Kings Local Schools.
Mr. Query, who recently approached commissioners about the proposal, said callers who report concerns are kept anonymous and the information is transcribed and sent to the schools by fax. Callers are assigned a code number and are asked to call back in three days while the matter is evaluated and investigated.
If the issue is especially serious, such as a student threatening to bring in a weapon, the school would be immediately notified and police likely would become involved, Mr. Query said.
Little Miami Local School District and Mason City Schools already have school safety phone lines, and Mr. Query said he was approached last year about setting up a hot line.
"If they're (students) involved in anything that's not appropriate . . . they're never going to know for sure that what they're doing would never be reported," he said.
