Safety is a paramount concern for schools in Colorado Springs, CO. To guarantee the safety of students and visitors, school personnel, including safety managers, monitor campus safety and trends in gangs and hate groups. Supervised visits are also conducted to ensure the security of children and parents. At Donna's House, visitors are guided by experienced supervisors who can easily substitute each other if a supervisor needs to go to the restroom or leave the room for any reason.
Visits are supervised in a group setting, so each supervisor oversees one to three families at a time. The supervisors take notes during the visit and prepare a one or two-page letter for the Court before the next hearing in which they describe the development of the visits. Even if they are not ordered to do so, some parties request one or two supervised visits to Donna's House to send a report to the Court showing that the parent-child relationship is improving or that the visits are going well. The Department of School Safety trains security personnel and other school and district staff on preventing bullying, dealing with difficult teens, crisis management, recognizing and interdicting gangs, workplace violence, crime prevention, threat assessment, and overall school safety.
In some circumstances, such as when a parent has been convicted of a serious crime against a child, supervised visits may be ordered through a permanent custody decree. Supervised Echelon visits take place in a public place or at home, if ordered by the court or if both parties agree. For example, if mom is ordered to make supervised visits and dad is comfortable with the children being under the care of the mother's parents in a public place, the parties can agree that the visits take place under the supervision of the grandparents in a park or playroom. In cases where a parent's behavior raises questions about the child's safety or well-being, restricted or supervised visits may be the most appropriate measure.
Shiloh's director, Norma Jean Rosse (“Jean”), has experience in early childhood education, earned her degree in Psychology, Addiction and Recovery, and is a certified member of the Supervised Visitation Network. School resource officers are stationed at four high schools and at an alternative school five days a week. Threat assessment begins at the school level, and principals, counselors, and assistant principals receive training on the early warning signs of violence and specific instruction on the threat assessment process. Supervised visits are an essential part of guaranteeing safety for students and visitors in Colorado Springs.
With experienced supervisors monitoring each visit closely and taking notes for future reference, parents can be confident that their children are safe while on school premises.
