School Safety

At the Corinth School District, protecting our students, teachers and staff is our top priority. We continue to take all necessary measures to ensure safety at all of our district campuses.

Officer David Derrick (CES)

With 29 years of law enforcement experience, Officer Derrick was most recently a school resource officer and DARE officer at Tishomingo County School District for nine years. He also worked in the Alcorn County Sheriff Department for 20 years as a deputy, chief deputy and DARE officer. He attended Mississippi Delta Community College.

Officer Latisha Stewart (CHS)

With 22 years of law enforcement experience, Officer Stewart most recently was a police officer at The University of Mississippi. Also, she was a parole/probation agent at the Mississippi Department of Corrections, a police officer at the Tupelo Police Department, a sheriff deputy at the Lee County Sheriff’s Department and a police/school resource officer at the City of Shannon Police Department. She has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Mississippi College.

New Safety Measures for 2022-23 School Year

All school personnel are required to wear name badges on a district-issued lanyard while on school premises or on duty.
Visitors, vendors and service technicians are required to sign in at the front office and wear a visitor’s name badge. All badges must be returned to the office prior to leaving the school.
CMS back entrances are being equipped with buzzer systems and video viewing to further control access to the building.
All student and teacher vehicles are required to have a parking decal. Any car without a decal will be subject to being towed from the school.
CES is equipped with a security camera system. CHS and CMS already have a security camera system in place.
Parents and guardians are required to present a picture ID to check out a child during the school day.
Non-school district cars, vans and buses are not allowed to line up for student pickup in CMS Warrior Circle, CES Ring Road and CHS front entrance until 3 p.m. or 15 minutes before an early dismissal.
All students in grades 6-12 are required to use the district-issued school or athletic backpack. No other backpacks will be allowed.
A fence between the two buildings at CHS and a controlled access system on the front door will be installed.
CSD has developed and executed a Memorandum of Understanding for Coordination Purposes between the CSD, Corinth Police Department and Alcorn County Sheriff’s Department.
CSD submitted the necessary paperwork to the Mississippi Wireless Communication Commission to establish a Corinth School Resource Officer talk network and allow for communication with the Corinth Police Department, Alcorn County Sheriff’s Department, Alcorn County Emergency Management Agency, Magnolia EMS and the Corinth Fire Department.
Fifty-one new radios were purchased for the schools to provide better communication among all staff members.
Three police vehicles were purchased for the School Resource Officers.
CSD is implementing a social emotional learning curriculum that promotes a sense of belonging, school climate, school safety and self-efficacy. This curriculum is done in conjunction with professional development, student surveys and staff surveys.
360° infrastructure maps of each campus were created to enhance our emergency operations plan by nSide, a Mississippi Department of Education contractor. The nSide safety platform also includes five additional cameras for each of our three schools and one camera at the Central Office. The virtual maps of our schools show hallways, classrooms, and all areas giving a Google street view to emergency personnel and school officials.
Threat Assessment Teams will be formed at each school to be proactive in dealing with children in peril or having a behavioral crisis. Teachers, administrators, parents, and others may make referrals to this team. This multidisciplinary team will bring together the expertise and skills of different professionals to assess, plan and manage activities to address the student issue. This mechanism will enable us to organize and coordinate services to meet the needs of these individuals.
A Corinth School Safety Alliance will be formed to facilitate planning and activities to address community and school efforts to create safer schools. Members of this alliance will include the Superintendent, Principals, Corinth and Corinth School District Police Chiefs, Youth Court Judge, Youth Court Prosecutor, and representatives from Region IV Mental Health, and Child Protective Services. This Alliance will meet at least quarterly and more frequently if needed.
First responders will be invited to tour the schools the week of August 1-5 during selected times. Principals will conduct these visits giving these first responders the opportunity to see our schools in operation and daily practices. Multiple visit times will be established to allow first responders such as Police, Fire, Magnolia EMS, and Alcorn County Emergency Management to visit.
A district-wide safety advisory committee will be formed as a part of our strategic planning process to help in formulating goals and objectives for improving school safety.
The district will hold safety meetings each semester to review safety plans, school issues and safety drills in an effort to address any changes that need to be made based on current situations. Participants in these meetings will include the Superintendent, Principals, Corinth and Corinth School District Chiefs of Police, and other first responders.

Existing Measures

All necessary equipment was purchased for our SROs including guns, tasers, OC spray, handcuffs, body armor, uniforms and other law enforcement items.
Our SRO attended Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) with other SROs from across the nation. At this training, our SRO received more than the required 40 hours.
Safety drills are scheduled throughout the year for all three schools. Active shooter trainings for teachers are scheduled during our fall professional development with a refresher training course in the spring. First responders will be requested to attend, monitor each of our safety drills and offer feedback.
A controlled access door is installed at CMS. Doors at CES are equipped with card swipe access.
All classroom doors are expected to remain locked throughout the day.
All district-owned devices have an advanced content filter called iBoss that scans local computer use as well as internet activity. iBoss immediately notifies school administration of threats and inappropriate online behavior and administration takes appropriate action. Additionally, Bark software scans all school email communications and content stored in the cloud. Remote desktop monitoring software is also available for administrators to view student computer screens in real time. The district uses a Fortinet firewall. Finally, CSD uses School Status, an instant text messaging software, for communication to include any immediate threats.
Security cameras are installed at each school and on all school buses.
Multiple staff members have key access to allow for immediate entry into any school space.
Each school has a crisis response plan that is reviewed and shared with teachers and staff.

Community Partnerships

CSD works closely with the Corinth Police Department (CPD) to investigate and determine when and if threats occur. Additionally, CPD utilizes district facilities to conduct active shooter training. Their July training has already happened. The CPD response time to a call is 2-4 minutes to any campus and they conduct walk-throughs in all three schools on a regular basis.
CSD has an agreement with the Alcorn County Juvenile Detention Center and Regional Correctional Center to house students and adults that are arrested on CSD property.
CSD conducts and requires threat assessments to be completed before students with serious disciplinary issues may return to school.
Timber Hills currently provides mental health counseling and services to students. We are exploring ways to increase our mental health services to students.