BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — School surveillance video captured the Nashville shooter, firing an assault rifle through the glass doors of a private school, a terrifying breach of school security.
“I know you can't imagine that it could happen at your school, but the unfortunate reality is — it could,” remarked Tim Uhl, superintendent, Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.
Uhl oversees 32 elementary schools. Catholic schools don't have school resource officers for security, but they do have a safety plan for all schools.
“We ask every school to do safety plans,” explained Uhl. “Our schools are required to do 12 safety drills. Eight of which are evacuation fire drills — four are lockdown."
The Nashville shooting at a faith-based, private school is also delivering a tough, new reality for these smaller schools when it comes to trust.
“People believe well — we're a community of faith, and where people can trust each other. We're a city of good neighbors — this could never happen here — people need to just get over that — it can happen here and you have to be prepared for the worst-case scenario,”
Uhl reflected.
“It's just terrible that we live in these times, but that's why we take all the precautions that we can,” responded Bryan DalPorto, director of safety & security, Niagara Falls City School District.
DalPorto met us at the 79th Street Elementary School where a weapon detection and identification system are in place.
“I think school districts now are learning that safety and security need to be as important as the academic phase of their learning environment, so here in Niagara Falls and other school districts. We take great efforts in securing the building itself,” explained DalPorto.
And for those in charge of school security, they're always keeping up with technology, especially on the outside of the building with cameras.
“We just added a lot of camera systems, so I can tell you here in Niagara Falls, there's not a lot of areas either outside or inside of a school that isn't blanketed by cameras,” DalPorto described. “Nobody comes into our schools that insist escorted to where they need to go. You need to have an appointment to even in the school. We try to limit access to the school in general.”
“I think approaching it like a fire drill — to say fires don't happen very often in schools, but if they were to happen, we want to be prepared,” Uhl commented.
