The Mid-Prairie School board met February 26. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

The Parkland, Florida school shooting gave Mid-Prairie School board members and administration cause to talk about safety at their recent meeting.

School board Vice President George Schaefer said he was not in favor of equipping school teachers with guns, something that President Donald Trump has suggested. Superintendent Mark Schneider gave the board an overview of all the safety measures the district takes, including visitors signing in and badges, and video surveillance on school busses and in school buildings.

Schneider adds, “We have intruder training practice drills with the staff with Washington County deputies and other law enforcement officials that come up. We’ve talked administratively about doing that with students but we’re just not ready to do that with students. We just have some unease to actually do intruder training with students, where the police come in and pretend that there’s a shooter.”

Schneider says sheriff’s deputies have been given a key card to all school buildings and are welcome to interact and build relationships with students. An idea was also suggested to survey students about which adults they trust and name five students they sit by at lunch, to detect any isolated students.