Precautions taken locally

Many local school superintendents in response to Wednesday's school shooting in Florida said they have established plans to help keep students safe.

Building entrances have been made more secure with locks, video cameras and intercoms. Coldwater Exempted Village Schools Superintendent Jason Wood said the district's new locking system can secure all doors at the touch of a button.

"That's probably our latest safety improvement," he said.

Local law enforcement officials regularly schedule district reviews and building walk-throughs to ensure plans are in place and school officials know how to respond in the event of an emergency situation. They examine procedures for fires, evacuations and lockdowns.

Several schools have video surveillance systems, which can be viewed remotely by local law enforcement, set up throughout buildings. Getting into a building is more difficult for parents, but the message is clear that additional steps have been taken to protect students and staff.

"In order to gain access, you have to press a buzzer. Someone can identify you using a camera and then buzz you in to come into the building," Celina superintendent Ken Schmiesing said. "That is something new we just added to the education complex, where Head Start is now. All of our buildings are equipped in that fashion."

Marion Local Schools Superintendent Mike Pohlman said, "We try hard to solve problems reactively, but instead we need to face these problems proactively."

Other improvements include advanced planning. Wood said each building's staff has a written plan that is thought through, rehearsed with the staff and students in drills and shared with local law enforcement. Included are safety plans, layouts of the buildings and instructions for students and teachers.

That communication between the school and local officials is important for school safety, Schmiesing said. School officials have a good relationship with the local emergency management agency, police chiefs and fire chiefs, they said. Wood also praised his district's relationship with Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey and Coldwater Police Chief Jason Miller.

School buses and sports facilities also are protected.

"We have added camera systems to our buses in the overall safety effort," Fort Recovery superintendent Justin Firks said.

In recent years, local law enforcement personnel have been practicing to respond to an active shooter in school settings. The protocol is called Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate - or ALICE. Training can be done in schools or in other buildings such as barns.

Grey sponsored a 2015 exercise in Maria Stein that included a focus on ALICE training in the schools. At that session, officers were shown how to hold a flashlight so a suspect can't see them coming, how to keep their weapons close to their chest to avoid giving themselves away when they come through a door or around a corner and how to quietly sneak up on a suspect while quickly clearing a room.

Sgt. Patrick J. Ammon, a member of the Wright State University Crime Prevention Unit, has taught active-shooter training classes at the Lake Campus for students and community members. The training is offered each semester.

"You never want anything like that to happen, but I feel like our staff is prepared in Coldwater," Wood said.

"I want to encourage everyone, whether it be parent or anyone, if they see something that doesn't seem right or hear something, they need to report it," Schmiesing said. "We want to be as preventative as possible."