STANFORD, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Lincoln County superintendent called on the school board to enhance district safety policies on Thursday evening.
It comes after pushback following the district's announcement that a Highland Elementary School student brought a gun to school in mid-August.
According to a release from the district, the incident was "self-reported" to the district by the student's caregivers late last week. Emails and calls went out to parents on Friday.
At a board meeting, superintendent Bruce Smith asked the Lincoln County school board to consider adding three new student resource officers to the district, to have a dedicated officer at every school.
"We hear you and we are listening," Smith assured parents on Thursday.
Highland Elementary parents, including Kayla Snyder, have been calling for new safety measures following the incident.
"There needs to be steps, things put into place to prevent this from happening again," Snyder said early Thursday afternoon.
About a dozen other parents joined Snyder to support her calls for change. Parents are asking for changes such as backpack checks and bus monitors.
Smith also announced on Thursday that he supports individual schools making the decision to implement clear or no-backpack policies.
He asked the board to call a special meeting early next week to address the concerns.
After Thursday's meeting, Snyder applauded the superintendent's step towards change but added:
"But it shouldn’t have taken a situation like this to make him do that. Our children’s safety should always be our top priority because things could have turned out so differently. I’m glad I took the initiative to stand up for all of our children so that these changes will hopefully be made sooner rather than later. I feel like if I stayed silent, they would have tried to move on as if nothing ever happened. I do, however believe they need to implement some things now until these other steps are put into place, such as backpack checks or other necessary measures."
Some parents also called into question the district's decision to prioritize social media and email over an immediate phone call to parents once the district learned of the incident.
"We're concerned about our children. Not only in Highland, but in Lincoln County," parent Rose Durham said.
The district explained its order of communication, emphasizing it was attempting to prevent panic among parents.
A spokesperson for the district said the best way for parents to express their concerns and security suggestions directly to the school board or to contact their school's school-based decision making council.
