School shootings have become increasingly prevalent in the United States. According to the Washington Post, 311,000 children have been involved in a school shooting since the 1999 Columbine High School tragedy.

Park County School District 1 stakeholders in the schools are revising plans and training throughout the school year.

“It’s not necessarily like, well, we review it every six months or every year, it’s a constant review, they’re constantly looking at and reviewing pieces and parts of the safety plan,” Superintendent Jay Curtis said. “And then, you know, making necessary changes to reflect current facility changes or current staffing changes.”

Curtis mentioned that part of the plan involves mental health, with the addition of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grants came integration of mental health into the school safety plan.

All schools in the district have visitor check ins and single points of entry to ensure that people who enter the building are seen and accounted for.

“We don’t prop doors, the worst thing we can do is just allow someone free access to walk in one of our doors,” Curtis said.

Staff also participate in yearly safety training as well as  alert, lockdown,  inform, counter and evacuate training (ALICE). Curtis added that all new staff have an “initial big training.”

These are only two aspects of the school’s safety plan. The plan has five pillars: building safety, access and protocol, social emotional and mental health, employee and student training, emergency preparedness and crisis management and interagency agreements and coordination.

The district has a safety committee overseen by Support Service Coordinator Rob McCray which according to Curtis is, “constantly looking at and reviewing pieces and parts of the safety plan.” 

The committee consists of roughly eight to 10 members that includes or has included the district transportation director, superintendent and assistant superintendent, the district’s two school resource officers, the Powell Police Chief, Homeland Security, school principals and other representatives from each school in the district. The committee would typically meet on a quarterly basis although the COVID-19 pandemic had affected this frequency. McCray said that the committee is currently working on returning to regular meetings  as well as organizing an incident command training which is led by Homeland Security. 

The Powell Police Department, which provides two school resource officers, the district pays for has a memorandum of understanding with the school district. They are also currently the only law enforcement agency with electronic key card access. According to Curtis this is because the Powell Police Department will more than likely be the first response to any active shooter and coordinate other responding agencies.

According to Powell Police Chief  Roy Eckerdt, the department trains for school safety regularly  through table top trainings  (discussing scenarios), and a “full scale exercise” every two to  three years at a district school or the college with the partnership of Homeland Security. The training includes all law enforcement agencies in the  area.

“We do believe that we’ve come up with a very good safety plan that focuses on the right things, has safeguards in place and takes all aspects of safety into consideration with regards to responses so I think we are about as well prepared as any school could be,” Curtis said.