Following the devastating news of an early morning mass shooting on Sunday, August 4, in Dayton’s Oregon District, Clark State Community College has pledged to ramp up campus security and offer counseling services to those affected.
“Many employees and students have been affected by these events, and I want to reiterate that Clark State is committed to the safety and security of our campus facilities for our employees, students and visitors,” said Dr. Jo Alice Blondin, president of Clark State.
Blondin said Clark State will increase security efforts with the help of local police forces in collaboration with Dr. Matt Franz, vice president of information technologies and emergency management, and Tom Duffee, risk management coordinator, who are charged with the safety operations on campus.
Duffee said safety is a collective responsibility, and Clark State relies on every member of its campus to contribute to security by using a common sense approach and reporting suspicious activity when observed.
“We are constantly surveying our current processes and infrastructure to determine how we may improve safety awareness and response,” said Duffee. “Our goal is to support an overriding culture of safety – trying to anticipate and prevent emergency incidents from the everyday issues to the most catastrophic.”
In 2017, Clark State implemented additional safety measures including: hand-held radios, notification beacons, use of office phones as emergency alerting devices and additional security cameras. With various campus policies and procedures, training exercises and on-campus security, Clark State strives to create the safest space possible for students, staff, faculty and community.
“Our hearts are with everyone impacted by the tragic events in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas,” said Nina Wiley, dean of student engagement and support services. “As a community we continue to work together to offer resources and supportive services to our students, faculty and staff.”
Counseling services are available at no cost through Clark State Counseling Coordinator, Melinda VanNoord. VanNoord is available by phone at 937.328.7961 and email at vannoordm@clarkstate.edu. She is a licensed professional clinical counselor.
Walk-in services are available at the Springfield campus. Appointments can be made at the Clark State Bellefontaine, Beavercreek and Xenia locations.
“We are doing everything possible to keep our campus locations safe in all areas that we serve,” said Blondin.