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School staff and public safety agencies came together at Elizabethtown High School to discuss safety in the district.
The Elizabethtown Independent Schools district hosted its second annual safety roundtable. Representatives from the Elizabethtown Police Department, Hardin County Sheriff’s Office, emergency medical services, state security marshal’s office, the Kentucky Center for Safe Schools and the Green River Regional Education Cooperative attended.
These people, along with various school and district staff members, worked from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Travis Gay, director of student services, said the point of the roundtable is for everyone to discuss safety procedures and processes to ensure students are safe.
“It’s really just a chance for us to get together to talk about safety,” he said.
Outside of learning and listening, those at the roundtable conducted a walk-through of the school’s evacuation and reunification process. Gay said they have a plan on paper, but they want to think through each step and go through it physically to see if any improvements need to be made.
Last year, the major event they did was gatekeeper training with the front office staff in order to teach them what to look for or ask when there are visitors.
EPD public information officer Chris Denham said the roundtable is an opportunity to learn from one another and discuss each other’s challenges to reach their common goal of keeping schools safe.
Denham said Gay is committed to safety, and recognizes the challenges that school districts face not only every year but every day.
He cited that Hardin County Schools and St. James Catholic Regional School also are working on their safety protocols.
At the start of the school year, for the first time, there will be a full-time police officer stationed at every school in the Elizabethtown city limits, Denham said.
On Monday night’s EIS board meeting, Gay provided updates to the district’s security functions including securing the vestibules of the building, adding windscreens, installing a new visitor management system and ensuring school staff have badges that indicate they are supposed to be there.
Gay said they can’t release all emergency plans, but they are trying to evaluate all aspects.
“We’re putting security in the forefront, we’ve reviewed everything and we’re trying to be as thorough as possible,” he said.
