School looks at crisis plans

When teachers at New Hampton Community Schools gathered Monday for a professional development day, one of the items on the agenda was updating the school’s crisis plans.
That agenda was set long before last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead, but it was a stark reminder why crisis planning is important for schools.
“It’s the reality we live in today,” New Hampton Superintendent Jay Jurrens said Friday afternoon. “It’s a reminder of why what we’re going to do Monday is so important.”
Jurrens said he believes New Hampton does have a solid plan in place, and he pointed out that the school has taken numerous steps to address security concerns in recent years.
Both the high school and the downtown middle and elementary school complex have their doors locked throughout the school day, and those who want to get into the schools must be “buzzed” into the buildings.
New Hampton, like other school districts around the country, have spent thousands of dollars on security cameras to better monitor what’s going on both in and outside school buildings.
And while Jurrens doesn’t want to overreact to shootings like the one that occurred in Florida, he also wants his staff members and students to be vigilant.

*/

“It can happen anywhere,” he said, “and I don’t think I’m overstating that. What we want to do is be prepared for something we obviously hope never happens.”
 
For more of this article, see Tuesday's Tribune.