A Service of The Arrow           Sunday October 17, 1999 1:52 PM

By Frank Janes and Melissa Frazier

Arrow Staff

Students may notice a stronger police presence on campus this year as Flathead catches up to the rest of the nation on school safety measures. “Other large schools have more security than we do,” says Principal Callie Langohr. “We are one of the last AA schools in Montana to have a resident police officer.”

With recent incidents of violence in schools across the nation, security in the classroom has become a top priority, says Langohr. Although change has been somewhat slow to come to the Flathead, the increased security is becoming noticeable here as well.

For one thing, random drug searches will become much more common in school this year compared to years' past, says Langohr.

Another visible aspect of this heightened security is the new resource officer, Wade Rademacher. Rademacher says his job entails not only taking police calls and preventing theft or vandalism, but serving as a deterrent. He lets students know the police are watching in the hope that this will cause a troubled teen to think twice before attempting anything rash.

Langohr says this new vigilance did not result from a lack of trust.

“We need to understand that these are good people in our school,” Langohr says, “but we have a responsibility to students and their families to provide a safe school environment.”

A less obtrusive safety measure is the newly placed phone system that has been installed in every classroom. This is part of a safe-school initiative that is district wide. Due to its size, Flathead is the first school to get the phones placed.

“We needed a vehicle that could be used to communicate immediately with everyone in the building,” says Langohr. “It fosters a sense of community. It's immediate information.”

Students here don't have to worry about anything so drastic as school uniforms or metal detectors anytime soon, says Langohr. “The only thing I can see in the near future is a badge system, or maybe increased lighting.”

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