Fulton Public Schools use locks, alerts to help keep students safe

FULTON, Mo. (KMIZ)

Would-be intruders at Fulton Public Schools will find the doors locked while students are inside.

That's one of the safety measures the district has implemented after years of school shootings.

The district follows a "locked door policy," which means doors must be locked during school hours. Meanwhile, annual training and reviews of staff members are ways to keep constantly updating policy ensuring that plans are effective in case of an emergency.

The school district uses a digital communications program that sends alerts to staff and families. The system covers emergencies, weather forecasts and potential snow days by text, email and voicemail. Parents have the opportunity to sign up for this program through the district's website, as well as opt-out whenever they receive a new message.

The school also has an anonymous tip hotline. Tips can be sent through the website or by telephone regardless of how they were heard, whether it's social media or in person. From there, a threat assessment team reviews the messages and analyzes the situation. This team was founded with the sole purpose of understanding and addressing threats immediately. The district also provides a bullying and harassment reporting tool.

"The tip line is available from the website, as well as a phone number is available to call and provide information," Superintendent Ty Crain said.

In 2018 the community passed a levy to address student mental health. This put social workers and homeschool liaisons in every school building throughout the district, furthering opportunities for students to seek help and an ear to listen to them.

Along with the levy, voters approved a $27 million bond issue in 2020 with the intention of providing safe and secure environments for faculty and students alike. With that money, the Fulton school district has made it a priority to upgrade the facilities. These upgrades include better security cameras, better lighting in parking lots and safety vestibules at the entrances of the schools. Construction is underway on of these improvements.

"We can't teach them if we can't keep them safe," Crain said.

Staff members go through annual training in lockdown situations and intruder training every year before the school year begins. Policies are updated annually after training sessions. A separate group will come in to evaluate the response of staff members.

Although the Fulton school district does not have student resource officers employed within the schools, they have a good working relationship with the local police department, Crain said. Officers will sometimes walk the halls during the day building relationships with students. Crain said the Fulton police response time to schools to the district is within minutes.