School safety top of mind at 2025 Conference on Educational Leadership in Raleigh

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- As hundreds of public school leaders focused on North Carolina schools in the 2025 Conference on Educational Leadership at the Raleigh Convention Center, one of the top topics was school safety.

"It absolutely requires that we provide safe and secure learning environments," Superintendent Mo Green said.

Green was joined by North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, who laid out his education agenda touching a wide variety of topics, including school safety.

"We have to do everything we can to keep students and staff safe at school," Stein said. "We need safety upgrades, like cameras, fences around playgrounds, exterior locks, fewer access points to secure our school buildings from people who mean harm."

Other topics included mental health and cellphone use in schools, which can all feel intertwined for some parents in the Triangle when it comes to school safety.

"The world is so dangerous," Grace Diver said. "I think a lot about bullying online, too ... they have a whole social world apart from their parents."

Diver said the best thing she can do right now to help her son navigate middle school is to be involved.

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"It's about being physically present with him," Diver said. "Making sure I stay there."

As North Carolina lawmakers work to make a new law tackling cellphones in schools, Stein expressed his support for restricting cellphone use in classrooms.

"Cell phones are a major source of distraction for students and disruption for teachers and administrators," Stein said.

In Chatham County, Superintendent Anthony Jackson shared how the pilot program "Yondr Pouch" is taking off in some of their schools.

"Our kids are more engaged, they're more collaborative with one another," Jackson said.

The program uses pouches with magnetic locks to put cellphones away during school hours. Jackson hopes the program is implemented districtwide.

"The best feedback I've received from a teacher is, the teacher said, 'For the first time since the pandemic, I saw my students' eyes,'" Jackson said. "They're interacting with one another, they're looking at one another, they're talking with one another. The cafeteria is louder."