Chippewa Valley (WQOW) - Alarm clocks sounded, buses arrived
on schedule and kids poured into classrooms, but schools looked different this
morning.
Doors that were once open are now
tightly locked, and plans that would be put into action if the unthinkable were
to happen are being reviewed.
The bump in security comes after a
man shot and killed 20 young children and 6 adults last Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School
in Connecticut.
Monday we
visited two local districts to find out what's being done to keep kids safe.
"We're pretty
confident in our plans, our doors are locked all the time, and the main doors
are open just briefly in the morning and at the end of the day when students
are coming in and out," said Altoona Superintendent Dr. Connie Biedron.
Schools in the Chippewa
Valley are reacting in different ways
following the tragedy in Connecticut.
In Altoona, going
into lock down is something the school has had to practice already this fall.
"We have a crisis
response plan, and actually in October we had a lock down here. There was a
possible shooter in the area if you remember, so we did just recently practice,
although we didn't know it. We had to go into lock down then," Biedron
said.
The Eau Claire School District
is stepping up security. All visitors will need to be buzzed in, or have their
I. D. checked by school personnel before gaining entry to any building.
"In some of our
schools, past practice had been that the community and the public were able to
access our schools independently and then walk to the office and sign in. We
have simply informed our administration to lock the front door, and to monitor
it with personnel who would direct community members to the office to check in.
That's in place today and will be for the future," said Tim Leibham,
Assistant Superintendent for the Eau
Claire Area School District.
The school says they've already been
receiving help from the students themselves.
"Students
understand school safety. Students of all age levels and grade levels want
their school to be safe. And we've seen an increase in students who will also
report abnormal circumstances or things they've overheard to school personnel
so we can investigate those things," Leibham said.
But sometimes it seems to matter
little how much security is added.
"There's things
that no matter how you plan and how many plans you have in place, there's some
things that I guess are unavoidable or inevitable. But we do everything we
possibly can to keep kids safe and keep intruders out of the school,"
Biedron said.
Both school districts said they were
sticking to the usual routine for today's classes. However, teachers have been
told it is alright to talk to students about what happened at Sandy
Hook if asked.
