you need to do a whole lot more than
just look around tonight the defenders
reveal a can't-miss checklist for
parents to help ensure your child's
school is safe security and safety
measures at your child's school might
start with locked doors but it needs to
go a lot further than that
it really does defender Kevin Dietz is
here now with the checklist every parent
needs to go through at their child's
school and Kevin this could really be
life-saving
it really can in parents this is what
you need to know you're making a big
mistake if you think that the child's
school is prepared for a mass shooter
security experts tell us most schools
are not prepared do you know your
child's school emergency plan do they
have trauma kits on-site do classrooms
lock from the inside to keep a threat
out if you don't know the answer then
you need to go to school take notes and
then take action school should be safe
havens for learning but too often they
are targets of the 65 reported shootings
at schools last year 31 were planned
attacks causing injury or death mass
shootings like Columbine Virginia Tech
Sandy Hook Parkland have changed the way
we all need to look at safety and the
experts say parents need to participate
we should be saying wait a minute that's
out of place or something about that
isn't right we report it and we let
authorities take care of it from there
even suggesting bringing a notebook to
school to jot down safety concerns does
your school have cameras door buzzers
locks on individual classroom doors the
safest schools have limited access
identification badges emergency trauma
kits they empower the teachers and hold
regular drills detailing emergency plans
for evacuation shelter in place and
lockdown
teachers really have to make an
assessment of what's happening and then
choose from a variety of options like
run hide fight to decide what they're
doing many have anti-bullying programs
in on campus counselors kids and parents
should practice at home too after you
note what your school has and is missing
notify your principal and ask why
Michigan recently released 25 million
dollars in grant money for schools to
help prevent mass shootings is your
district getting
sher but a seventh largest school
district in the state we have over
16,000 kids Ron Roberts is a
superintendent of Chippewa Valley
Schools they are very proactive this
year we had a two-hour training for our
staff on active shooters and just to
learn what is best practice how people
react in situations like that and how
you should react bringing in experts to
make safety assessments and share with
families what would make each and every
individual school much safer you can't
prevent everything that happens but you
you mitigate things if someone gets in
our building we don't want them to have
free rein in a building you know we want
to be able to secure areas and and then
react appropriately to save lives
communication with everyone is the key
everyone's input counts because the best
idea may come from you or your child now
is the time to make sure that students
are involved whether they're teaching us
about technology or reporting things to
us the experts suggest you organize with
other parents and take your security
notes to school board meetings and find
out why basic security measures are not
in place and when they plan to budget
for the more serious safety lapses at
school swim into the safety about 25
million in grants yes we know how many
actual school districts got that money
yeah so a lot did 114 schools got grant
money but 409 asked for money so like
300 schools we were told sorry we don't
have any money for your schools so only
one in four that asked for money
actually got it and there's not like you
said in your report - there's a lot of
quick fixes in terms of interior door
locks and there are a lot of things that
can be done without a lot of money but
the parents need to hold the school
accountable yeah they do know ideas are
bad thanks guys