It's

likely that Fayette County high school students

will be carrying their books in their arms when

school starts in August, and all students in the

district will be required to comply with a

stricter dress code.

These

are just two of the ideas being discussed by

parents, teachers, school administrators and law

enforcement officials serving on the Fayette

County School District's Safety Task Force.

The

group, headed by Wayne Robinson, director of

secondary school services, had its initial

meeting Thursday evening and broke out into four

groups, the most popular being the one discussing

discipline and dress codes. "You're probably

not going to see book bags in the building...

starting with the high schools," predicted

Stuart Bennett, former principal of McIntosh High

School and now assistant superintendent of

curriculum and instruction.

More

lockers at the high schools will allow students

to stash their books between classes and also

keep hall traffic moving, Bennett said.

"Before we had too many students and too few

lockers," he explained.

Instituting

a uniform dress code, where the mode of dress is

the same in all schools in the county, also was

discussed. One of the first changes expected is a

regulation outlawing sleeveless shirts on girls

and boys. Parents complained that each school

interprets the school dress code differently with

levels of compliance varying as well.

The

final recommendations coming from the group

included a uniform dress code that would be

stricter than the current code in place, resource

officers (policemen) at all middle and high

schools, and involvement of students in the dress

code revision process. They also encouraged

ordering psychological evaluations on students

who make violent threats.

The

small group discussing prevention strategies came

out in support of a structured school environment

where students would understand and abide by the

rules in place and learn, along with their

teachers, how to resolve conflicts before they

reache the crisis stage.

The

"emergency procedures and crisis plan"

group focused on fine-tuning the emergency

preparedness already in place and developing a

flip-chart for all schools, which would be

organized to give quick information to staff when

an emergency occurs.

The

members of local law enforcement agencies and the

Georgia Emergency Management Agency focused on

who is in charge and who is supporting whom when

an emergency situation arises at a school in the

county or in a municipality. Videotaped layouts

of each school were proposed, along with

providing law enforcement teams with blueprints

of the schools.

Mike

Satterfield, facilities manager for the schools,

said adding security systems to the school

buildings, more monitoring cameras on buses and

additional lights on the outsides of the school

buildings are things his department is reviewing.

Robinson

encouraged students and parents to come to the

next meeting of the safety task force, which is

scheduled for Thursday, July 15. "We need

your help and input to guide us," Robinson

said.

<!--

-----------