A mother hugs her daughter outside an elementary school in Newtown, CT where 20 students were killed on Friday.
/ Source: NBC
School officials, around the country, will be dealing with lots of questions from concerned parents and worried children following the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday.
WNWO reached out to the largest school district in Northwest Ohio, Toledo Public Schools, to find out what precautions are already in place to keep students safe.
"Every school has a crisis management plan that they are required by law to have and we have our own security department review those plans with our administration," Assistant Superintendent Dr. Romules Durant said.
In a press release issued by the Ohio Attorney General, following Friday's shooting in Newtown, Mike DeWine highlighted the importance of plans like the one put in place by TPS.
"I [urge] schools around Ohio who had not yet filed school safety plans to do so. These plans are critical for first responders to respond to incidents at school facilities," DeWine said.
Durant adds that students rehearse their crisis management plan, at least once a year, to make sure they are prepared for a situation like a shooting.
"We take our students safety as a priority. Not only do we have a crisis plan but we rehearse those things on a day to day basis," Durant said.
This year TPS also implemented a computerized calling system, called EduLink, that can make mass calls to parents in the event of an emergency situation.
A similar system was used to call parents, with students in the Newtown school system, warning them that the schools had been placed in lock-down because of a shooting.
Parents, with students in the Toledo Public Schools system, can sign up to receive these alerts.
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