MADISON, Wis. -- Some parents and staff at Toki Middle School in Madison said "time will tell" whether new efforts aimed at addressing school safety concerns will be effective.

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Some teachers called them "baby steps" and said they remain skeptical and don't support the new plan.

The new efforts follow a week after a PTO meeting packed with upset parents gave school district officials an earful about behavior and safety issues and concerns.

A letter was sent home with parents two days ago telling parents that new staff will be added to help with the issue.

The district's security chief, Luis Yudice, said the steps were taken to help with the "perception" that Toki is unsafe. He said the data doesn't indicate that it is but that moving ahead with some extra steps is necessary.

"Providing additional staff to act as eyes and ears and to reinforce positive behavior is a good thing, and I believe we can build on the momentum of that PTO meeting and turn the school around," Yudice said.

Amid the yelling and screaming and occasional running in the Toki Middle School hallways, it's clear Security Coordinator Robert Relph doesn't have an easy job. He will now has some help keeping the school's 600 students in line. A second security coordinator has been added. Bennie Brown was hired and trained to increase the security guard staff at James Madison Memorial High School. Instead, he's been moved to Toki.

"It does become challenging at times, so with another set of eyes and another person working alongside me, it'll be a nice asset," Relph said.

Sean Storch, who left LaFollette High School to join Toki, works alongside both the security guards. Storch is the school's new dean of students. That's a new, one-of-kind position in the district aimed at struggling students who need one-on-one attention and customized behavior plans.

Principal Nicole Schaefer said that, combined with a continued emphasis on rules and a program that promotes "positive behavior," she is optimistic things will improve.

"I believe that this school is very safe, and I think we do have some issues we need to address and we will continue to address them and move forward," Schaefer said.

Some staff, teachers and parents, though, said they are skeptical the efforts will be enough to straighten out what they say is a serious problem.

"(There are) kids in the hallway all the time; the fights are ridiculous. The teachers and the kids are not getting along. It's not good, not good," said Tia Woods, a staffer at Toki who is running a program that works with girls.

Police were called to Toki 107 times last school year for incidents that included 17 disturbances, 11 batteries, five weapons offenses and one arson, WISC-TV reported.

So far this year, police have been called to 26 incidents. The district security chief said the school is safe, though, and he warned the numbers can be misleading.

There was no way to compare those numbers to police calls at other Madison middle schools because the district doesn't keep that data itself, but the district security chief said they are working on that.

Toki PTO President Betsy Reck said "it's a start," but she said she believe there needs to be a clearly defined "behavior plan" posted immediately that shows appropriate behaviors and the consequences if they are not followed.

Reck said she wants consistent consequences applied to negative behavior.