How Minnesota schools are prepping for worst-case scenarios

MINNEAPOLIS -- It may be summer break for Minnesota students, but there are people across the state working right now to keep them safe during the school year.

The Minnesota School Safety Center is a team of five people that travels around the state to help schools assess their risks and strengthen their plans with best practices from around the state and around the country.  

Randy Johnson is the team's director.

"Much involvement needs to be done by the parents as far as understanding what's going on and what are the expectations of parents when they do have a situation like that," Johnson said. "But more importantly, what do we do on the front end before that type of incident does occur? Are we communicating when we have concerns about an individual, about a situation, about behaviors, about language, about things that are on social media?"

Johnson says parents with concerns about school safety should start by reaching out their local school.