A familiar face: New security chief well known in VCSC

Aug. 11—On Friday morning, Kurt Brinegar visited Terre Town Elementary School to review traffic patterns and safety improvements for when parents pick up and drop off children each day.

Later, he went to Franklin Elementary and met with Principal Tina Horrall to learn about any security concerns or other issues that need to be addressed. The school is a "safe harbor" for many students, she said. "If you enroll at Franklin, you are now one of my kids."

Horrall and Brinegar have known each other for many years, both through schools and through the Terre Haute Police Department.

"Kurt and I have been friends for a long time," said Horrall, whose husband was Terre Haute police chief during a prior administration while Brinegar was on the police force.

Brinegar may be new to his position as Vigo County School Corp. coordinator of safety and security, but he's quite familiar with the schools and staff. He started his new duties July 19.

Recently retired from the Terre Haute Police Department after 30 years, he spent 28 of those years working off-duty as security in schools and more recently as an off-duty school protection officer at Terre Haute South Vigo High School.

His last 2 1/2 years with THPD, he worked as a detective/liaison in the juvenile division. He's also a certified National School Resource officer.

In many ways, leading VCSC security is natural progression for Brinegar. Through the years, he's interacted with many staff and multiple generations of families. Sometimes he'll encounter a student and knows the student's grandparents from their school days.

He decided to apply for the coordinator of safety and security because "I saw an opportunity to finish out my law enforcement career, but I still want to help the community and I love working with kids," said Brinegar, 53.

A native of the Vincennes area, he attended Indiana State University with the goal of becoming a teacher. But job opportunities in that field were not as readily available as they are today, and he decided to go into law enforcement and obtained a degree in criminology.

"Everybody was hiring for police ... of course they didn't get paid very much," he said. He was hired by the Terre Haute Police Department three days after he graduated from ISU.

In his new role, he's responsible for the safety of nearly 14,000 VCSC students as well as more than 2,000 staff.

His responsibilities run the gamut from alarm calls and testing school alarms to school building security. Schools must conduct various safety drills and principals will work with him to get them organized and completed. He also is part of a school district safety team.

And, Brinegar oversees all school protection officers and their training as well as SPO scheduling. On any given school day, the district will have 34 SPO's in 27 facilities.

His big priorities getting started in his new job relate to protection officer training and scheduling; some SPO's are full-time, while others are part-time. Some are off-duty police, while others are special deputies through the Vigo County Sheriff's Office.

"Training is paramount because they are around so many different types of people," Brinegar said. "We want to make sure we have the proper training and it's a school-oriented type of training."

The transition from Terre Haute police to the school district "sure feels natural to me," he said. Because of his many years working in schools, he's developed positive relationships with school staff that are important in his new role.

He also has positive relationships with the Terre Haute Police Department and other law enforcement agencies. In instances where there may be police activity near a school, those relationships "will allow us to move quickly to make sure our kids are kept safe," said Bill Riley, VCSC director of communications.

Riley described Brinegar as "a law enforcement professional with decades of experience in our schools and our community. It is hard to find a school staff member or law enforcement official who doesn't know and respect him. His experience in our schools and in the juvenile justice system makes him a natural fit for our school corporation."

Brinegar, whose office is at the former West Vigo Elementary building — which will become the new administration building — has a police scanner in his office that he monitors. "I'm paying attention," he said. "Knowing the terminology in law enforcement is paramount for this position."

While no longer a Terre Haute police officer, he is a special deputy with the Vigo County Sheriff's Office.

As a Terre Haute police officer, he has held many roles — patrolman, drug task force, street crimes unit, special response team and juvenile division detective. He served on the THPD Honor Guard team for 20 years. He's been in charge of various programs and also is an instructor.

Over about the past 10 years, he has witnessed increased violence in the community, which can impact schools.

"The violence I've seen in the last 10 years especially, it has escalated. The COVID issues have really caused a lot in the last year. Being in the juvenile division, I've seen an uptick in violence against children," he said. COVID at times last year meant remote learning from home, and for some students, being at home "is not always good. The home may not be the safest place for a child, sometimes."

For those students, school is a safe zone, an outlet and a place to get help, he said.

While he will miss his time with the police department, he's looking forward to his new role.

"I'm excited to continue my work for the community," Brinegar said.

When he came to Terre Haute to study at ISU, he said he "realized, this is the place I want to be. It's provided so many opportunities for me and my family. It's been a great community."

Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at sue.loughlin@tribstar.com Follow Sue on Twitter @TribStarSue.