State and local officials hold school safety meeting

 

KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- After December's deadly school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, and two separate gun scares within the Kenosha Unified School District inside of a two-month span, school safety is a major concern.

"We've experienced some very traumatic events here in Wisconsin and we'd like to make it known that it is a priority and that there are certain practices and programs," said Trish Kilpin, the executive director, office of school safety.

Tuesday, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Office of School Safety, and KUSD addressed what they are doing to make sure students can feel safe in the classroom.

"The generations of students who are graduating from high school right now grew up with school safety as a concern their entire time in schools," said Kaul.

This is something Kaul and others involved in Tuesday's meeting are working to prevent. They say they are staying proactive, ensuring safety protocols like locked doors, safety plans, and school threat training for staff and students continues to be implemented.

For KUSD, one of those methods, a controlled safety entrance, prevented a teen with what police believed at the time to be a semi-automatic rifle from entering Roosevelt Elementary School.

However, seven schools within the district don’t have those, something the district's referendum- that failed last week- would have covered.

"We're going to continue to look at ways to do that, those are very expensive," said KUSD Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Weiss. "They are more than just adding a set of doors, those are major remodeling."

He says they are resorting to other safety measures until they can find that funding.

"We have a front door security monitor, somebody at those doors and at those entrances to watch the person who would be coming up to the door," said Dr. Weiss.

The office of school safety is also holding a two-day training this week for the district's psychologists, social workers and counselors to make sure they are prepared to respond and help students and staff if a crisis occurs.