In an effort to enhance security of both students and staff, the Warren County R-III School District has taken several measures over the past several months.

Most recently, the board discussed holding an extensive intruder training for its faculty to be better prepared in the event of an active shooter or threat within the buildings.

Superintendent Dr. Aaron Jones explained how the process would look during the monthly meeting Oct. 12.

“We talk about these situations quite a bit, and we feel like students and teachers know what to do, but this is just an opportunity to have teachers understand what it feels like to make those decisions while under the same stress but in a controlled environment,” said Jones.

The district is anticipating holding two different training sessions. One would take place at the high school on a professional development day, when students are not in the building. The elementary schools will hold their training on an early release day.

“There is actually a state statute that we are required to do a certain amount of intruder training hours with staff each year,” said Jones, adding this training will be more involved and include the staff in role play on multiple levels.

“Obviously we want to make it as realistic as possible, but we are giving teachers the option to be involved at three different levels of participation,” he said.

A level one type of involvement would be “pretty intense and make it as real as possible,” said Jones. Staff participating in level two would be in the building in a safe zone.

“We wanted to give them that option, unless there are health concerns or barriers involved,” he said.

This training will be just part of how the district is working to improve security measures. Each year employees are sent to a safety and security conference in the fall.

In addition, each of the classroom buildings on campus had upgraded security vestibules installed over the summer. These require visitors to buzz a camera-monitored security system twice before being allowed into the office for approval to further enter the building.

At the high school, there are three levels to pass through.

“We are going to continue looking at ways to keep our students and staff safe, because that is one of the top priorities for the district,” said Jones.