7:10 A.M. School Security

By DAN GOODGAME

The student had stuck a straight pin through his tongue and casually worked it around in his mouth as he chatted with his teacher. When she persuaded him to remove it, he asked if she had a safety pin that he could put in its place. Then he asked what would happen to a student who threatened a teacher.

That chilling little drama took place last week, and now, 20 minutes before the opening bell, 10 fully caffeinated members of the Webster Groves staff, led by principal Voss, are discussing what to do about it--beyond the temporary suspension the student received straightaway. The group comprises what the school calls a Safe Team. It includes all the student's teachers, a guidance counselor, the school's part-time social worker and its police liaison officer. The team's first concern is to get the troubled student the help he obviously needs. But there's another mission, and an undercurrent of worry that is new since Conyers and Columbine: any report of a threat, however veiled, is taken seriously and pounced upon immediately. Any Webster student who poses a danger to himself is considered a potential danger to others.

Over the summer Webster Groves administrators reviewed the school shootings of recent years--what they had in common, what warning signs were missed, what safety measures might have made a difference--and then formulated a new security strategy. They rejected the metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs routinely employed by many schools in favor of an aggressive program of prevention and early detection--not just of obvious threats and violence but also of anything that might lead that way, including petty conflicts among cliques. Says assistant principal Raimondo: "We're trying to pay more attention to kids on the front end." Teachers and support staff are instructed to alert administrators not only to overt discipline problems but also to subtler signs, like a sharp decline in a student's grades or a loss of interest in favorite activities. Says Raimondo: "It gives us 130 pairs of eyes."

In fact, the snoop-to-student ratio at Webster is quite high. Voss has selected 60 kids for her Principal's Student Leadership Group, whose duties include reporting any incidents or smoldering resentments that might lead to trouble. Kids who look or act different at Webster know the walls have ears. Meanwhile, Voss and her assistants, walkie-talkies in hand, routinely roam the halls between classes. In order to avoid the appearance of a police state, it seems, Webster Groves has had to create a real one.

What keeps the place from feeling like North Korea, though, is the genuinely benevolent interest the school's adults take in the lives of their students--on and off campus. Teachers at Webster know a remarkable amount about which girl's parents are breaking up and which boy chafes at his big sister's accomplishments. And they get involved. Last year teachers noticed that one girl was suddenly doing poorly in school: she was often tardy, slept through class, didn't do her homework and dyed her hair wild colors. Counselors made a visit to the address listed as her home and found she was living there alone. Her grandmother had been there with her but was in the hospital, and the girl was estranged from her parents. She was using drugs and alcohol to "self-medicate" for depression.

Webster staff members get involved in other ways. One senior, a gifted poet who won't graduate unless she can take some remedial courses across town, doesn't have a ride to those evening classes. So assistant principal George White drives her. White is also on a mission to help a new boy with Down syndrome. When White recently asked if he needed anything, the boy said softly, "Friends. I need friends."

That's the tone of the Safe Team meeting this morning about the boy with the pin in his tongue. The group reviews his record, which includes prior incidents of setting his pants on fire, threatening suicide and failing to take his medication. The news is not all bad. One teacher notes that "he participates in class, does his homework and wants to do well." Someone else reports that the boy "had a period last year when he talked about dropping out and getting a job." But the consensus is that if he could get back on track in school, it would be better for him--and for Webster Groves. "If he's out on the street," says Raimondo, "he could be more of a danger to himself and others." The meeting ends with an agreement to discuss the boy's problems further with his parents and his private psychiatrist--and to watch him closely when he returns to class.

--By Dan Goodgame