Local school officials and parents seek increased security measures

Destinee Marking, Staff Writer

Photos by Brock Kirk/The News

In the weeks following the shooting at Marshall County High School, local school officials and parents are reassessing school safety and security.

Murray High School has implemented stricter security in the past month, which includes bag checks and”wanding” with a metal detector each morning.

Tawnya Hunter, public relations coordinator for Calloway County Schools, said the district will take part in a safety training prior to school starting in the fall. Kentucky State Police will simulate an active shooter situation.

Referring to the training as a “refresher course,” Hunter said it will be optional because it will be intense, but from the response so far, she believes attendance will be high.

Calloway County Schools currently have the same security measures in place at the high school and middle school.

Since 1999, bag checks have taken place at Calloway County High School. Hunter said anyone who brings a backpack, gym bag or purse is searched every morning.

However, Hunter said bag checks have just started at Calloway County Middle School following the Marshall County shooting.

“Prior to the bag checks at the middle school, the policy was students came in one door,” Hunter said. “There was a storage room bags were stored in, because the lockers are not big enough for the middle schoolers to push their bag and their books in their locker.”

Other measures, Hunter said, include full-time resource officers at the middle and high schools and at the elementary school as needed.

Community members are also taking action.

Janssen Lindsey, Benton, Kentucky resident, started a petition with another individual that could increase security.

The petition calls for “legislators and school officials to require metal detectors and better security systems to be installed at Marshall County High and all schools in the state of Kentucky.”

As a mother, Lindsey said something needs to be done.

“It’s probably not the answer, and we know that there’s nothing we can absolutely do 100 percent to make this quit happening all together, but we have to start somewhere,” Lindsey said.

So far, Lindsey said they have obtained hundreds of signatures.

Anyone interested in signing the petition can reach out to Lindsey on Facebook, visit Choppers in Benton, Kentucky, or visit Southern Roots in Paducah, Kentucky.