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NEWS | KANSAN.COM
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Wednesday, Aug.19, 2015
KU Public Safety adds cameras to bolster reporting
MCKENNA HARFORD @McKennaHarford
Since the KU Public Safety Office added 14 new body cameras in January, officers lawyers and the department have been using the footage to assist in putting together police reports.
Captain James Anguiano of Public Safety said the goal of the cameras was to have a convenient and accurate record of situations.
"We looked at [body cameras] because our officers, a lot of times, are out on foot, in buildings and having contact with individuals in different locations and it was an easy, accessible tool for the officer to utilize." Anguiano said.
MCKENNA HARFORD/
The Student Safety Advisory Board funded the new cameras.
Officers on duty are required to wear the cameras and start recording whenever they approach a situation where a crime or conflict might be occurring, Anguiano said.
"When an officer was out there doing their job, before we had the body cameras, you might go in a situation to where you're not going to write a report," Anguiano said. "So this is the same type of thing and the same kind of training."
If officers do a daily patrol of a residence hall and stop to talk with people at the front desk, then they wouldn't record, but the camera would be activated if a fight broke out in the lobby, Anguiano said.
The cameras also record the minute before the camera is activated, which can help determine causes or add context. The officers can consult the footage when writing reports. Footage has also been used by prosecutors and defense attorneys in court, Anguiano said.
KU Public Safety Officer RJ Blevins displays a body camera at the KU Public Safety Office.
"It kind of helps the court process in that everyone can see the same thing because before when you wrote a report it was based on information the officer is giving you and then the interpretation by somebody," Anguiano said. "Now you get to see what the officer, suspect or victim is saying or doing."
The cameras download recorded video to the Public Safety database, where it is saved for about 30 days, unless the video is used as evidence
in a case. Then it is saved until the case is closed, Anguiano said.
Public Safety uses some of the footage for training its officers.
"There may be videos that an officer has that we deem an officer safety issue, or it could be how to respond to a certain incident and we can utilize that with our officers," Anguiano said. "Instead of talking about it we can show them."
The department also uses the footage if someone makes a complaint against an officer, but Anguiano said he didn't think that the cameras changed the officers' actions.
Garrett Farlow, the former chair of the SSAB, said the board funded the cameras so that Public Safety could be best equipped to serve the community.
"We wanted to be able to give our law enforcement officers the tools to succeed and we though the body cameras were the best way to do that," Farlow said.
The Associated Press reported that the Kansas Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight was planning to discuss requiring body cameras in 2016 for all Kansas police departments. Currently, neither the Lawrence Police Department nor the Douglas County Sheriff's Office use body cameras, but both have in-car cameras. Body cameras to outfit the LPD would cost $150,000, according to an article in the Lawrence Journal-World.
Concordia Unified School District 333 Twin Valley USD240 Smoky Valley USD400 Haven USD31 Skyline USD438 Shawnee Heights USD450
Districts that closed early in Spring 2015:
Districts that don't require a teaching certificate:
Kansas City USD 500 Blue Valley USD229 Concordia USD333 McPherson USD418 Hugoton USD210 Marysville USD364
Schools facing budget cuts struggle to keep teachers
Schmidt was a student teacher in the Kansas City, Kan., school district this spring, where she said teachers were having to pay for classroom supplies out of pocket without reimbursement. This year, Schmidt said teachers at her school in Missouri were given a budget of $100 for classroom supplies. That, she said, is something most Kansas school teachers don't get.
PAIGE STINGLEY
@paigestingley
"There are a lot of benefits that come with being a teacher in Missouri that Kansas doesn't have," Schmidt said. "A lot of young teachers aren't thinking about retiring yet, but Missouri's retirement program has a built in security blanket, and Kansas doesn't give that."
As education spending in Kansas declines, it may prove difficult to retain Kansas teachers.
More than 3,000 teachers left the state of Kansas at the end of the spring semester according to the Kansas State Department of Education. As the school year approaches, there are 73 open teaching positions in Kansas school districts, according to the Kansas Education Employment Board, or KEEB, a free service that recruits teachers to Kansas schools.
The Kansas City, Kan., school district could lose up to $10.8 million, according to FOX KC.
Paige Schmidt, a teacher in Oak Grove, Mo., graduated from the School of Education last year. She accepted a job in Missouri to be closer to her family and because the benefits in the Missouri district are more appealing than in Kansas, she said.
"It's not fair to the kids. That's what bothers me the most," she said. "It's not their fault this is happening, and they shouldn't have to suffer because of it."
It's common for schools to have a tight budget at the end of the school year, Schmidt said, but it is a problem when schools have to close early.
"There are not enough students gradulating from Kansas universities and colleges to fill that void."
Joseph Novak, a professor in the School of Education, said he believed the cuts and the loss of tenure in Kansas were forcing teachers to leave for other states.
JOSEPH NOVAK Professor in the School of Education
Last year, 740 teachers retired, and 654 teachers left the state in search of better teaching opportunities, according to the Kansas State Board of Education.
"There are not enough students graduating from Kansas universities and colleges to fill that void," Novak said.
According to the KEEB coordinator, Julie Wilson, fewer applicants are applying for teaching jobs in Kansas.
"It used to be that an elementary posting would have anywhere from 30 to 60 applicants for one posting, and now a district might see around 10." Wilson said.
She said, however, it was hard to say if recruiting had gotten more difficult for school districts. She said it was typically easier for school districts near university schools of education to
recruit.
Some districts are adjusting their requirements in order to find teachers. Six districts in Kansas no longer require teachers to be certified after the state Board of Education made an exemption in July. Schmidt worries that this will affect the learning environments for students.
"Some people are an expert in their concentration, but that doesn't always mean they're good at teaching it," Schmidt said. "That's why the teaching certificate is important."
Novak said school districts have had to eliminate several support positions, including library assistants, teacher aides, custodians and lunch workers. Sometimes teachers are not replaced when they leave or retire. he said.
Fewer teaching jobs mean class sizes become larger. Joe Hornback, a principal at Bonner Springs High School, said that was detrimental to the learning environment.
"Some of these kids don't have a lot of help outside of school, so it's our job to do everything we can to help them while they're at school." Hornback said. "We can't do that to the best of our ability when we don't have enough resources."
Hornback said he has seen significant cuts to his school. He was a teacher for 11 years and has been a principal for nine years. Hornback said he has witnessed the changes in his school district and was afraid the recent changes would become the new normal.
"When the cuts get big and the numbers go down, you can only save so much money on copies and pencils," he said. "When the numbers get to where they are now, the
only thing left to cut is the people."
Bonner Springs High School is projecting that about 60 more students will enroll this school year than last year. Hornback said that kind of increase would mean hiring one or two teachers, but that's not a possibility.
"We've trimmed down all the fat and we're down to the bone," Hornback said. "We're looking at the long-term effects here. If you go through your entire school career experiencing 30 to 35 students in your classes, and there's less attention for the kids, systematically it's going to affect your whole school. It's going to affect test scores and kids going to college."
There are currently 58 fulltime teachers and 75 total people in the faculty at the high school. Currently, 800 students are enrolled.
"I am very proud of what educators have done and continue to do in spite of these dramatic changes," he said. "While teachers hold the fort for now, I am very concerned about the long-term impacts over the next five to 10 years."
"I just hope that the state of Kansas can get back to where they were," Schmidt said. "They were innovative, and developing and progressive. They were leading the way for a lot of educational programs in the US, and I don't see them returning to that level of prestige if schools don't have the funding they need."
Schmidt said it was difficult to see school districts struggling. She said she believed that the districts had so much potential to be national leaders in education, but budgetary changes were holding them back.
Student Senate creates board to reach uninvolved students
ALANA FLINN
@alana_flinn
In its first year, the board will focus on reaching out to the 90 percent of students who are not involved in a campus organization, said the board director, Chance Maginness.
In an effort to improve relationships between students and student senators, Student Senate is creating an outreach board, which will work to help Senate better represent all students.
"We haven't been able to reach out to that 90 percent for so long, and we've been caught up in internal debates for so long" Maginness said. "We really want to make sure we're governing for the students, and part of that is making sure they knew we're there for them."
Student Senate created the board partly to complement the new communications director position, held by Isaac Bahney. That position was formed by combining the positions of secretary and outreach director.
With the goal of reaching students uninvolved in an organization, Senate will focus on strengthening the connections it already has, including a tie to the Greek system, Maginness said.
"We are going to work to make sure those who already work with senate know their voices are still heard, and make sure those connections are secure," Maginess said.
The board also wants to re-establish some relationships, including one between Senate and Athletics, which Maginness said needed repairing after Senate cut the nonrevenue sports fee in May 2014 from the required student fees.
Maginness said the student body also lost confidence in Senate when the spring 2014
election was redone. Because of rule changes from the previous semester, one coalition was disqualified after one member allegedly purchased Chipotle burritos for members at a meeting and did not include it on a required financial form.
"We really want to make sure we're governing for the students, and part of that is making sure they know we're there for them."
Maginness said the outreach
CHANCE MAGINNESS Senate Outreach Board Director
board would work to regain the trust of the student body. Members of the board plan to use social media to reach out to students, as well as tabling on campus, working with news outlets and holding open forums for students. The start dates for those campaigns have not been set yet.
Bahney said he was confident that the board would be able to improve communication and relationships throughout campus.
"Going out into the community, hearing what students have to say, their concerns
and ideas and bridging that gap between senate and students, that's the goal," Bahney said.
Between 10 and 13 members will serve on the board, including three students who are not senators. Maginness said that those board members were meant to add a better student perspective. There will also be two or three permanent seats for senators from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences because the school has more students than others on campus.
However, the seats for College students and non-senior will be the only permanent ones. Other members will cycle through each year by applying for a seat on the board. Student Body President Jessie Pringle will choose who will serve on the board, but the seats are not chosen yet.
Students who are interested in applying for a seat as a non-senator can contact sbp@ku.edu.
"As far as the outreach board goes, we are looking for people with all different perspectives that can really help us see all sides of things on campus and help us reach out to as many people as possible," Pringle said.
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