IMESD summit will focus on school safety
By Terry Murry on Thursday, July 28th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The InterMountain Education Service District is holding a summit on school security for its administrators in Umatilla, Morrow, Union, and Baker counties on Aug. 8. In addition, law enforcement officers from multiple organizations serving those districts will be on hand.
IMESD Superintendent Mark Mulvihill said that with public education’s concentration being on the pandemic in the last couple of years, it’s important to focus back on school security. He added that there are also a number of new administrators in their member districts who may not be familiar with the school safety plans.
Those plans were created when then Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts toured every school in the district and pointed out flaws and possible changes. He worked with those in the schools to develop the safety plans and explained them to law enforcement as well.
Mulvihill said the district affiliated itself with the ‘I Love U Guys’ program which was founded by a man who lost his daughter to a school shooter. That program works to get educators and officers on the same page using the same language in the event of a tragedy.
“You have Pilot Rock,” he said. “You have Umatilla. You have La Grande. You have the Oregon State Police. You have different sheriffs. They’re all converging to support if there’s ever an active shooter in Ukiah.” The school safety summit will be held at the Pendleton Convention Center. More information about school safety is at https://iloveuguys.org/.
