NewsWest 9
MIDLAND - School leaders in the Tall City met on Monday to talk about how to improve student safety.
It's a community-wide effort that's focusing on every detail.
Two months have passed since the Sandy Hook shootings in Newtown, CT, but the tragedy is still fresh on the minds of local leaders.
"They're our kids and in this community, they are all of our kids," M.I.S.D. Superintendent Dr. Ryder Warren, said.
Dr. Warren called a meeting to talk about being prepared for the worst.
Over a dozen other school administrators from public, private and charter schools in the Midland area attended the meeting and put their heads together.
"Shame on me for not reaching out to the other school leaders before Sandy Hook happened," Dr. Warren said. "We should've been doing this for forever. We need to do a better job of coordinating with each other."
Law enforcement and emergency officials were also at the meeting.
Active shooter response plans are already in place but Dr. Warren said there is always room for improvement.
"We wanna let the experts, those folks who are in our emergency service organizations, look at our plans and just say 'hey thumbs up you're doing everything you can' or they would suggest us altering those a little bit so that's gonna be very important," he said.
"We pray that it never happens but our main objective is to protect the kids," Midland County Sheriff, Gary Painter, said.
Painter said it's important for everyone to be on the same page.
"These are things, expertise that we can provide, hopefully in the means of training to maybe divert or prevent something and that's our goal: prevention," Painter said.
Working together to keep safety at the top of the list.
