Schools, law enforcement team up to keep kids safe

As parents prepare to send youngsters back to class, school districts are working with law enforcement agencies to ensure teachers are prepared for worst-case scenarios.

Officials say teachers in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Perryville, Missouri, all have undergone active-shooter training to increase their students' chances of survival if someone comes into a classroom with gun in hand and murder in mind.

Cape Girardeau and Perryville teachers have taken ALICE training to help them respond appropriately if a shooting occurs.

ALICE -- an acronym for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate -- gives teachers a variety of techniques to protect themselves and their students, Perryville Police Chief Direk Hunt said.

"The teachers like the idea of having options," he said. "... A lot of schools used to teach you, 'Turn the lights off.' You sit in the corner of the room, and (with) this program, they have options."

Perryville also has two parochial schools -- St. Vincent and Immanuel Lutheran, Hunt said. Teachers and staff at all three schools had the training.

"Eventually, we're supposed to do the students, but right now, we've done all the staff," Hunt said.

Officers also met with parents of students at Perryville and St. Vincent schools, he said.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department has provided ALICE training to some schools and instructors.

"I know they stay up on top of it," said public information officer Darin Hickey.

Jackson staff, including bus drivers, have undergone similar training, said Wade Bartels, associate superintendent of finance and business operations for Jackson public schools.

Strategos International in Jefferson City, Missouri, assists the district with training, Bartels said.

"It's an active-shooter emergency response training similar to ALICE," he said.

Bus drivers also use Strategos methods, although their training is tailored to their environment, which is different from a classroom, Bartels said.

"We have to do everything possible to keep every kid safe, and we take that responsibility very seriously," he said.

Cape Girardeau teachers and administrators have undergone ALICE training, but students have not been given it at this time, said Dana Saverino, who handles public relations for the district.

"Our main focus is to make sure our teachers and administrators have that under their belt," Saverino said.

SROs

On-site police officers also help enhance school security.

In Cape Girardeau, four school resource officers are assigned to the schools, Hickey said.

One officer covers the high school; one covers the middle school, junior high and alternative school; one is assigned to elementary schools; and one handles the Career and Technology Center, he said.

The officers have assignments, but they are not static, Hickey said.

"They have offices in certain schools, but they get in their cars and ... they bounce around quite a bit," he said.

The officers are at school from the time it opens to when it closes, and provide security for after-school functions, Hickey said.

"They go through extra training to be prepared for anything that may happen in a school," he said.

During the summer, the school resource officers switch to patrol shifts but still check on the schools, Hickey said.

"There's a very, very good working relationship between the school system and the police department," he said.

The Jackson district uses a school resource officer from the Jackson Police Department. The officer is primarily at the high school and R.O. Hawkins Junior High School, but he visits other buildings, Bartels said.

The district also uses officers from the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department for walk-throughs of buildings, and deputies may pull onto school property to complete paperwork, he said.

An officer from the Perry County Sheriff's Department is assigned to the Perry County school district, Hunt said, while a DARE officer works in the parochial schools.

Other measures

Bartels said Jackson schools coordinated with Cape Girardeau County to install emergency-response buttons at each school last year.

The buttons trigger an automated announcement for authorities to go to a certain location, Bartels said.

"Law enforcement know if they hear that, that it's an emergency situation above all," he said.

The system is designed for situations in which calling 911 would be impractical, Bartels said.

"What we've been saying is that it doesn't replace 911," he said. "This is a situation where 911 is not an option and requires a quicker response than that."

In addition, Jackson schools have lock-entry doors, and visitors must check in to gain access to buildings, Bartels said.

Jackson continually upgrades its safety plan, he said.

Saverino said Cape Girardeau Public Schools updated many safety features with a 2010 bond issue.

Teachers and staff have scannable identification cards to go in and out of buildings, and those cards are coded to each person, Saverino said.

In Perryville, the schools' proximity to law enforcement also enhances safety, Hunt said.

"They're all pretty close to the police department," he said.

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