How Twin Cities schools plan to keep students safe after Annunciation shooting
There is heightened attention to school security after this week's deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic School.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey discussed school safety Thursday.
"In the coming week, we know there will be a lot of difficult emotions due to school starting," Frey said.
The city is coordinating with law enforcement across the metro to expand patrols around all schools within Minneapolis over the next couple of weeks.
WCCO reached out to the state's five largest districts about their back-to-school safety plans.
Only one — St. Paul Public Schools — provided someone to discuss safety and security.
"St. Paul Police Department, they reached out to our superintendent and said, 'What can I do? What can we do to support and show our community that we're going to protect our students?'" SPPS security leader Marcus Sullivan said.
Sullivan said the district's schools will continue visitor check-in, lockdown drills and controlled access procedures.
Every secondary and pre-K-8 school has at least one school support liaison. For the first week of classes, they'll have additional support from police officers.
"When my school support liaisons are standing side by side with St Paul Police Department, the police officers that are going to be our school opening week to greet our students, to high-five our students, to fist bump our students, that's a show of unity in our community after a tragedy just happened in Minneapolis," Sullivan said.
For parents anxious about sending their children back into the classroom, Sullivan hopes this message will ease their fears.
"I have a kindergartener who is going to attend Riverview and I'm in charge of the security operations for the district," he said. "So if I'm allowing my kid to come to this school district, I ensure that it's going to be secure and it's going to be safe and welcoming."
Every St. Paul school has a school safety team and mental health team that meet to review processes, discuss areas for improvement and share information.