School safety causes major concern

SUPERIOR – An issue of grave concern was raised during the public comments of the county commissioner’s weekly meeting Thursday.

In a passionate speech to the commissioners, Scott Kinney, Superior’s superintendent, and Alan Labbe, principal of Superior High School and Middle School, contended that the safety of students was not being addressed “as aggressively or as thoroughly as possible.”

Kinney said three assaults had occurred on or near school grounds and were not adequately addressed by law enforcement. The most recent case was of a gun assault on school property, which was not addressed by authorities for approximately 84 hours.

“I don’t feel that that is an appropriate length of time,” Kinney said.

The other two incidents Kinney mentioned were physical assaults. One was between two adults in front of a busload of middle school students from St. Regis and the other incident was between a youth and an adult. According to Kinney, it has been three weeks since the latter incident received any updates.

With over 50 combined years as educators, Kinney and Labbe are clearly dedicated to their students. Listening to Kinney’s speech, it was clear that he and Labbe, as lifelong educators, are 100 percent behind finding a solution to the issue and want to ensure the safety of their students.

“This isn’t a job,” Kinney said. “Alan [Labbe] and I have devoted our whole entire lives to working with kids.”

The Department of Criminal Investigation was contacted by County Attorney Marcia Boris to get more information on the issue and the feelings of the department on the matter. Unfortunately, Boris said the overall response seemed somewhat lackluster and she was unable to get a response until she made the request in person.

“I feel that this situation has been dismissed,” Boris said. “The attitude that I have observed is dismissive, it’s no big deal, and I do not agree with that.”

Kinney related a similar experience he recently had with Sheriff Ernie Ornelas that he described as heated. According to Kinney, the sheriff said their resources were insufficient to look into every incident thoroughly. Kinney, a long time resident of Superior, said he remembered when it was the Sheriff and several deputies. It was Kinney’s feeling that manpower should not be an issue.

Kinney and Labbe feel this apparent dismissal of the issue is inexcusable and that law enforcement should treat it as a higher priority.

“This is serious, this is not to be dismissed,” Kinney said.

Labbe said that up to now he has never had reason to question law enforcement and does not doubt the commissioners are concerned about the well being of the community’s kids. He feels that there should not be safety concerns like these in schools.

Kinney recommended that the commissioners create a mandate that, when an incident occurs at a school, it becomes top priority with no more than a 15 minute response time. He said he hopes understanding and support can be raised to ensure that students and their safety come first.

“If we’re going to err, let’s not err on the side of policy,” Kinney said. “Let’s err on the side of the kids.”