Basin PBS to host ‘Keeping Kids Safe’

With all the tragic events of recent months, Basin PBS has organized a live town hall titled “Keeping Kids Safe.”

The event will be broadcast at 7 p.m. Aug. 11 and will run for an hour.

“If people want to come and sit in the audience, they just need to call for a seat because we have limited seating,” General Manager and CEO Laura Wolf said.

“We are opening up the studio to about 40 people, first come, first served, if they want to come and watch it. It’s the first time we’ve opened up the studio since COVID, so I’m excited,” she added.

Wolf said they are getting quite a few inquiries about the town hall because it is an important topic and people are very interested. She stressed that it will not be a “gotcha” town hall.

The broadcast will be livestreamed on the Basin PBS Facebook page so people can submit questions.

The panel will include the superintendents from Odessa and Midland, top cops from Odessa and Midland, the new safety coordinator for Midland ISD and a safety officer from the ECISD Police Department.

Also, a mental health professional from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.

Becky Ferguson, a Basin PBS board member and special correspondent, will be the moderator.

“Of course school safety has been on the mind of people for a long time, but after Uvalde and it hitting so close to us being in Texas, we really felt the need to educate West Texas on what our resources are and what we are doing as a community to keep our kids safe. It’s not a gotcha town hall at all. It is to (let) parents and viewers know of all the resources that have been utilized to keep our kids safe,” Wolf said.

She added that she has talked to Midland Police Chief Seth Herman and Odessa Police Chief Mike Gerke and they don’t mind addressing the failures at Uvalde, “but they were hopeful in that they don’t believe that we would ever have that issue in Midland or Odessa.”

“But I do think that Uvalde has raised awareness for not only parents, but for law enforcement and people that were hired to keep our kids safe, so we’re just trying to address that,” Wolf added.

Wolf said they have done a lot of marketing for this town hall with cable advertising and social media.

“… It is on everyone’s mind right now as kids start back to school next week …,” Wolf said.

She added that people may be experiencing a little bit of trepidation and fear about their children going back to school.

“We want to address that and let kids and parents know that what they’re feeling is normal, but also that we have the resources to protect them and to help alleviate that fear. We still want them to be kids at school, do all their activities, have fun and learn and not have to worry …,” Wolf said.

She added that she thinks people will come away from the town hall feeling more confident in their school districts and in the resources that the school districts and cities have put behind them, as well.

Wolf said Basin PBS started broadcasting town halls about a year ago.

“I think that they’re a valuable resource for West Texans,” she said.