Video cameras were monitored. Side doors were locked. And crisis response plans – what teachers and students are to do if an intruder enters the building – were reviewed at Lawrence schools Monday.

“We’re in a heightened state of awareness,” Supt. Randy Weseman said Monday afternoon.

In the wake of the nation’s third deadly school shooting in less than a week, Lawrence officials quietly reviewed security measures in place at the district’s 16 elementary schools, four junior highs and two high schools.

Two separate incidents had Weseman and other administrators talking Monday:

¢ Three girls were reported killed by a milk truck driver who took a dozen hostages in a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania.

¢ In Las Vegas, four schools were locked down while police searched for a teenager spotted at a high school with a gun.

Monday’s incidents followed other school violence last week.

On Friday, a school principal was gunned down in Cazenovia, Wis., and a 15-year-old student was charged with murder. Two days earlier, an adult gunman held six girls hostage in a school at Bailey, Colo., before killing a 16-year-old girl and then himself.

School resource officer Keith Loneker monitors security cameras at Lawrence High School. Last year LHS installed about two dozen cameras in and around the school.

State of readiness

Weseman said security at Lawrence schools includes plans for dealing with intruders, video cameras to monitor activities and keeping side doors locked to limit access.

“We’re doing everything humanly possible to make sure these environments are as safe as they can humanly be,” Weseman said. “That’s my highest priority.”

School officials also work with the police who sometimes stage intruder scenarios on the weekends as training exercises.

“I don’t think we should live in a state of fear. I think we should live in a state of readiness,” Weseman said.

For example, at Lawrence High School, security includes about two dozen video cameras monitoring doorways, hallways and other areas of the building; controlled access to the school; three security guards; and Jon Barta, a Lawrence Police officer who is stationed at LHS as the school resource officer.

Steve Nilhas, LHS principal, said he reviewed security today with Beryl New, assistant principal, and Barta. Last Friday, Barta sent out information to staff about “lock-down procedures” in case there is an intruder, he said.

“That’s a procedure where we would limit access to classrooms, the doors are locked and students aren’t allowed to leave the classroom,” he said. “We don’t want people out in the hallways, and we want classrooms to have minimum accessibility.”

Rick Gammill, director of special operations and chief of security for the district, said similar crisis response plans have been set up for each of the district’s schools.

Gammill said after the Colorado incident last week, he sent e-mails to all the principals suggesting they review those plans. Schools practice them once a semester, he said.

“We have tried to be, in the Lawrence public schools, very proactive regarding safety and security,” he said. “That’s certainly our No. 1 priority.”

Monitoring

Each high school has three security officers and one Lawrence police officer. Each of the junior high schools also has a Lawrence police officer serving as a school resource officer, Gammill said.

Each of the high schools have 16 to 24 cameras now and there are plans to have up to 40, he said. The cameras can be viewed from a monitoring room and from a Web site accessible with a security code, he said.

“We also did a security survey in conjunction with the Lawrence Police Department, at each one of our schools,” he said.

Recommendations from those surveys have led to improved sight lines at the schools so that it is easier to see who is coming and going from each school’s front doors, he said.

The recommendations also stressed that only the main door of each of the school buildings be unlocked during the school day, he said.

In the near future, Lawrence schools will have magnetic security access cards for each staff member, which would eliminate keys, Gammill said.