CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Brian Quinn has spent half his life in law enforcement. At age 19 he started work with the Cleveland Police Department and two years later went to the Bradley County Sheriff’s Department, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant in the criminal investigation division.

But last year he heard about a new position, something that touched the core of what many believe communities are built around — schools. So he applied, and in February, Mr. Quinn became safety and security coordinator for the city and county schools. He assesses and coordinates safety and security for 25 buildings, more than 14,200 students and 860 teachers, and he meets regularly with 42 administrators and 25 school resource officers.

Q: How was your position created, and what have you been doing since February?

A: This position came through the Safe Schools/Healthy Students federal grant. The grant is in its third year, but there is funding for one more year. I began my job by doing assessments of each building in the two school systems and their safety plans.

Q: What does an assessment involve?

A: I meet with the principal or SRO and do a top-to-bottom assessment of the school, entrances, camera systems, communications and plans in place to respond to emergencies. Often I’ll team up with the Emergency Management Agency or the fire department and observe drills. Through reviews, the school representative and I will note safety issues that need to be changed.

Q: What kinds of issues have you noted, and what are some ways system safety has changed?

A: Everything from bushes that need to be trimmed because they could be a good hiding place for someone to roof access or teaching staff to stop anyone they don’t recognize who doesn’t have identification and ask them who they are. Making sure chemicals in the chemistry laboratory are locked up.

Q: What kinds of situations can you train school safety teams for?

A: Every school in the district is completely different. You’ve got threats and hazards at each school.

Some are sitting on railroad tracks, so you have to know what to do in case of a train derailment. Others are near interstates, so you have to know what to do it there’s a chemical spill. Others are near banks or stores, so they have to be ready to go into lockdown if there is a robbery nearby.

But there are a lot of things you can’t plan for. You have to identify the most likely incident that could happen. It’s like a hurricane. You know it’s coming and it may hit somewhere. All you can do is prepare and have the things on hand you need to respond.

Q: What are some practices or equipment that have come about with your work?

A: We’re finishing installing communications equipment for the Incident Command System, a radio system that will allow all the schools to communicate without cell phones or landline telephones during an emergency.

We’ve also updated all of the weather-alert systems in the schools, and the new equipment is portable so the principal can receive immediate updates.

Safety teams at each school are going through or will go through emergency training with online courses and are required to update their safety plans and pass them along to the district safety team for assessment.

Q: What are your plans for overall safety improvements systemwide, and will your position continue to be funded after the grant runs out next year?

A: Over the next years we’ll be working different scenarios, tabletop exercises and mock drills. We’ll continue the six-month assessments and responding to school requests.

We hope that the schools pick up funding this position. So far the feedback’s been very positive. This position has probably been needed here for a long time.

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