Safety and Security FAQ's

The safety of students and staff is of utmost importance to Onslow County Schools.  Both of these rules are in place to help assure that safety.  School staff are generally not available to supervise students outside of the designated drop-off times. Having students arrive too early means they may be unsupervised in areas that aren't equipped to keep them safe or secure until school begins.  Additionally, the school building and grounds may not be open for students to enter, this is especially concerning in the event of adverse weather conditions.

We want to make sure that both the parking areas and the carpool lanes remain clear and accessible for those who need to be on campus during the day.  When cars begin lining up too early, it causes congestion around the school, which can make it difficult for buses or emergency vehicles to navigate the parking areas. This creates safety risks for students, staff, and other families. Additionally, there is no way for staff to know who is waiting in the vehicles and if they have a valid purpose for being on campus. 

To help control visitors on campus, including parents, guardians, or approved relatives there to check a child out of school early, Onslow County Schools uses a visitor management program from Raptor Technologies. This requires all visitors to the school to present a picture ID which is then scanned into the system.  The identification serves two purposes: 

1. The person is who they claim to be and is authorized to check the child out of school.
2. For those visiting the school campus for other reasons, the Raptor system crosschecks the visitor’s identification against the sex offender registry and other data bases to assure the individual is permitted to be on campus.

It is very important that any custody or protection orders are shared with the school.  These can be listed as warning flags in our student information system and help ensure that a child is not removed from school by a parent or guardian that is not allowed to do so.  Without a copy of these orders, the school would be obligated to release the child to a parent or legal guardian.

Onslow County Schools is dedicated to providing a safe and secure environment and the presence of law enforcement on campus is an integral part of our plan for safe schools.  We have a strong and long-standing partnership with our law enforcement partners and greatly value the safety and security they provide to our schools.  As part of this relationship, each school in Onslow County is assigned a School Resource Officer (SRO).  Five of our high schools and the Onslow County Learning Center each have two SRO’s. 

School Resource Officers are employees of their respective departments, not Onslow County Schools.  However, the agreement between the Onslow County Sheriff Department, Jacksonville Public Safety, and Onslow County Schools allows that SRO’s may act as agents of the board, allowing them access to information and systems that makes it much easier for them to ensure the safety of the school. 

Yes.  When events occur or may occur on a school campus, the facts surrounding those issues are known about by other students a vast majority of the time, so students are an important part of keeping our schools safe.  We also realize that students may not want to come forward and risk losing friendships.  All students in grades 4-12, or their parents, can make a completely anonymous report using the Say Something anonymous reporting system.  This reporting system is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is the best way to get an immediate response to an anonymous tip.

In our continuing efforts to enhance school security, Onslow County Schools has implemented the use of the Evolv Weapons Detection System at all of our high schools.  This system quickly screens for weapons and other items that could represent a threat to the safety of our schools.  These systems are also used at select extra-curricular high school events. 

Onslow County Schools recognizes that student safety is one of our must important responsibilities, and we work hard every day to make sure our schools are as safe as possible so that students can focus on learning.  As part of school safety, every school has a detailed safety plan outlining what is to be done in the event of an emergency.  Those plans are kept from public view to further ensure student safety.  The North Carolina General Assembly recognizes the importance of keeping these plans confidential and General Statute provides that these records are not for the public view and are not subject to public records requests.