A better way to protect school children

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - Several area school districts are changing the way they tackle school threats.

Many districts already use surveillance cameras and locked doors to keep the threats in check.  Some even use metal detectors.

After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, school administrators poured over safety procedures to look for cracks in their plans.

The Dayton Public Schools have a specific committee set up that meets monthly.  It brings together school leaders and local law enforcement to suggest ways to improve the district's safety plan.

The Shelby County Sheriff is offering teachers in its county weapons training and tactics to deal with school crime.   Oakwood City Schools and Twin Valley Schools in Preble County recently tackled the issue.

The list goes on and on.  The Urbana Local School District is initiating a new plan to stop hoaxes and threats before they become reality.  According to our partners at the Urbana Daily Citizen , school leaders are assigning bathroom monitors in an effort to reduce hoaxes.

Urbana Schools have been locked down twice in the last month for bomb threat hoaxes.

Urbana Superintendent Charles Thiel told the Daily Citizen that teachers are now taking their students to the restroom and then checking the bathroom when the students leave.

A similar threat investigation is under scrutiny at Tippecanoe High School in Tipp City, where a threatening note was found in the boys' bathroom.  It threatened a "Columbine" style attack.  Police patrols were increased Thursday, February 14 to ensure student safety.  Tipp City Detective Chris Graham stood outside the school and vowed to "take this threat very seriously and we're going to find out who wrote that note."

Parents and students didn't take the threat lightly.  "The threat makes me kind of freak out a little bit," said Alex Stearns, Tippecanoe student.

13 people died at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999 when two students ambushed their classmates.  The shooting spree has since become a symbol of school violence awareness.

A survey conducted by the National Center for Education found that the overall rate of violent incidents for all public schools was 31 incidents per 1,000 students, with the rate significantly higher in middle schools than in primary or high schools.  52 percent of all schools reported at least one student threat of physical attack without a weapon, nine percent of schools reported such a threat with a weapon. 

That survey was conducted during the 2005-2006 school year in Ohio.