BY MATT LINDSEY
North Country This Week

MASSENA — A school resource officer and more school social workers are some measures Massena Central School is taking to address student safety.

“We were all shocked and saddened by the news that there was an elementary school shooting yesterday in Uvalde, Texas, where at least 21 people lost their lives,” Superintendent Pat Brady said. ”Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and the entire Uvalde community.”

To keep Massena students and staff safe, the district has implemented many measures that include:

• Video surveillance inside and outside of all facilities.

• A strong partnership with the Massena Police Department.

• Single point of entries at all of our school buildings. All doors are locked during the school day.

• Anonymous Alerts for the anonymous reporting of safety concerns.

• District and Building level safety plans including threat assessment.

“These plans are updated annually and the District Safety Committee meets periodically to discuss enhancing our safety protocols,” Brady said. “We expect to meet prior to the new school year to discuss our threat assessment protocols.”

The district holds regular drills to practice a wide-variety of emergency procedures including a lockdown which would be the procedure used in case of an active shooter.

Brady said that there have been increased safety measures with the most recent capital improvement project that resulted in improvements to internal door locks and emergency notification system.

“The new notification system will have alerts to classes outside if there is an emergency in the school building,” Brady said.

In partnership with the Village of Massena, the district is in the process of adding a school resource officer.

“We’ve added two social workers this year to counsel students and will be adding a third for next year,” Brady said.

The training never ends as information is always being updated.

“Coincidentally, a group of administrators, counselors, and other school officials were attending a threat assessment training yesterday with a nationally renowned expert in threat management including school shootings,” Brady said. “This work will strengthen our efforts to identify potential threats to our schools.

Brady said school officials will reinforce the idea of “see something, say something” as it continues to hold significance, especially with the role social media plays in children's and adolescents’ lives.

Anyone can reach out to a building administrator or another trusted adult with concerns or anonymously submit a concern.

School counselors and social workers are available to support students who feel troubled by the recent gun violence.

“It takes all of us working together to keep our schools safe from harm,” Brady said.