Gresham-Barlow School District safety summit aims to rebuild community trust

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Gresham-Barlow School District held a community safety summit on Tuesday in part to rebuild trust with parents, students and staff after recent safety concerns at Gresham High School.

Last week, the school district selected Ted Zehr as Gresham High School's new interim principal. The previous principal, Erika Beddoe Whitlock, submitted her resignation, days before.

This comes after the student-run Gresham Student Union demonstrated a walkout earlier this month in protest of a previous threat involving an armed student at the high school on Friday, Sept. 20.

Several other unsubstantiated threats toward the school have surfaced on social media since then, which Gresham police said were not credible.

The safety summit was a chance for district leaders to have candid conversations about the concerns raised by parents during this past month, including wanting faster responses to emergencies and discussions about school resource officers, among other issues.

"We really wanted to be involved with how the district is handling safety and safety protocols, because that was top of mind after the last month," said Hannah, a parent of Gresham-Barlow students. "We all brought forward ideas of how we thought safety could be improved."

When asked what those ideas were, Hannah told KOIN 6 News: "Clear communication."

"This is a critical time in our community. Safety challenges are facing schools not only here in Gresham-Barlow, but also across Oregon and throughout our state," said Gresham-Barlow Superintendent James Hiu during the meeting that gathered school leaders, law enforcement and other organizations together.

Gresham-Barlow School District Chief of Operations John Koch discussed a 2016 bond measure, which brought $30 million worth of security upgrades to schools across the district.

"It was huge work and it's all stuff that you can't see that makes every building much safer," Koch said.

The Gresham Police Department and Safe Oregon were among the groups giving a series of presentations at the summit.

 "Know that your children are our priority. Our schools' safeties are our priorities," Gresham Police Chief Travis Gullberg said.

Ben, another parent of a Gresham-Barlow student, told KOIN 6 he thought the discussions were a step in the right direction to "really build the trust back."

"They need to find a way to make the students feel safe and feel that they're heard. And if they have issues, they get back to them and let them know, they don't need all the details...let them know something happened," he said.

The district will present an overview of what was shared at the event during a district board meeting on Nov. 6.