File photo Hollis Brookline High School.

Editor’s note: The Telegraph reached out to every school district in Greater Nashua and will publish that information when it

becomes available.

When a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Wednesday, killing 17 people and injuring others, it immediately opened up a national conversation about mental health, gun control and public safety.

When police accused former student, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, it also alerted people to the fact that an assailant is not always a masked stranger; it can be a member of the community.

The Telegraph reached out to schools throughout Greater Nashua discuss what safety and security procedures are currently in place, and how they are coping after a national tragedy.

Superintendents statewide have attempted to calm anxieties of parents and students by sending home letters explaining the respective school district’s current protocol and guidelines.

When the news coverage dominates events like this, and organizations publish startling facts and numbers about the frequency of school shootings, many families wonder how safe their children really are at school.

“The hard answer is that our children are only as safe as all our efforts to make the students and staff as safe as we can,” Superintendent of the Hudson School District Lawrence Russell wrote in a letter to parents.

“Despite all the efforts from school districts across the country, schools can still be the target of senseless acts of violence,” he continued, adding that schools can only use this as an opportunity to re-evaluate what they can do better.

“The most important step that we all need to take is to talk to our children,” he said. “It is critical that we tell our children to talk to a trusted adult when they are aware of any person who may cause harm to others.”

This year, staff in the Hudson School District attended ALICE – Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate – training. They’ve used this training to form a plan with their Emergency Management Committee, which is comprised of staff, fire and rescue, and law enforcement.

The schools have done lockdown drills and rally point evacuation drills.

According to Russell, the district also has applied for safety and security grants from the state to help upgrade the buildings.

“Everyone has a visceral reaction when faced with something like this,” said Steve Beals, Alvirne High School principal. “A lot of our staff are shaken, a lot of our students are shaken. I’d love to say that we are perfectly prepared all the time, but no school is.”

All staff members can do is trust the plan and make improvements when able.

Souhegan brought in

Safe Havens International

Souhegan High School Principal Rob Scully sent a “message of hope and community” to parents this week, letting them know that Souhegan has “enacted a planned protocol … for faculty and staff that are designed to meet the varying needs of students in processing events like this.”

Scully stressed in his letter that student safety is the No. 1 priority.

“(Wednesday’s) horrible shooting in Florida reminds us of the unfortunate need of being perpetually aware of risk as well as being extremely prepared,” he wrote.

Souhegan has been working on a review and analysis of its comprehensive safety and security plan, which will be completed in the spring and presented to the board in May.

This will “likely lead to sizeable investments in security policy and infrastructure,” Scully said.

Safe Havens International, a nonprofit campus safety organization, was at the high school earlier in the week to determine the school’s needs. According to the SHI website, it is an organization “committed to helping schools and school systems improve crisis preparedness and campus safety.”

Scully promised the turnaround for SHI recommendations would be

“immediate.”

Additionally, the school is submitting a grant proposal to the state’s public school infrastructure fund to help improve security.

As for Souhegan’s current procedures, Scully said the emergency management team ensures continuous training throughout the district, conducts monthly drills for a variety of scenarios, has a highly-trained school resource officer, and an in-depth emergency operation plan.

The school also has emergency pull stations, much like fire alarms but blue, that automatically initiate a lockdown and call the Amherst Police Department. The school also is working to install first aid stations and will begin training staff members how to utilize those stations.

“We believe a significant investment in safety and security begins with our staff and students being thoroughly educated and trained,” Scully wrote.

Bishop Guertin puts strong emphasis on community

Jason Strniste, principal of Bishop Guertin High School, believes in a strong security system.

There have been significant investments made to the building’s door locks, cameras and alarms. However, Strniste also believes there is a more human approach to preventing tragedy.

“We believe a strong community is the best defense,” Strniste said in an interview. “You can have the best door lock in the world, but if the threat is coming from a trusted member of the community…”

The important thing is making sure the students feel valued, like they are important, he said.

“The takeaway message for us is going to be that we are a community based on compassion,” he said. “We look at the community side as being an equivalent to the physical.”

BG does have teachers who are trained and have been in contact with the Department of Homeland Security and the Nashua Police Department. The school frequently runs emergency drills with a few situational variations.

Strniste didn’t want to expound on what those drills entail for his students’ safety. However, he did say he and his staff “are very confident” in the current plan.

Hollis Brookline: ‘If you see something, say something’

No matter how well an emergency plan is laid out, being prepared for

every possible scenario is impossible.

“You can plan for one contingency and something new happens … There are constant evolutions, making sure our plan is meeting all the needs,” Hollis Brookline High School Principal Rick Barnes said.

The school is constantly evaluating its safety and security plan, as all schools must, Barnes said.

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2013, when 26 children and adults were killed, there was a massive re-evaluation of school security measures nationwide. Measures that had previously not been considered, Barnes said.

There are not enough details yet on what happened this week to know if there will be a similar reaction now.

The HBHS currently has routine drills like shelter in place, lockdown, evacuations and more. Students are currently taught a run-fight-hide philosophy that depends on where they are or the situation they’re in at a given time.

The school’s resource officer, Rick Bergeron, has been instrumental in making suggestions on how to improve school safety, Barnes said.

Superintendent Andrew Corey sent out a memo to parents, stressing that student safety is the district’s top priority, and reminded them of some of the best practices in place.

“While it can be frustrating for all of us at times, it is important to remember that safety procedures regarding routine matters such as entering the building during the school day were implemented for good reason and need to be followed,” Corey wrote. “We are always grateful for the concerned parent who calls in to report something that does not seem quite right. The mantra ‘If you see something, say something’ is a good one. You can rest assured that we follow up on every safety concern big or small that is brought to our attention. Our greatest asset during these times is one another.”

Barnes reflected on the importance of getting beyond the reactive and creating an ongoing conversation.

“People get concerned about getting involved with the lives of others but it has to be a collective effort. It involves all of us,” he said, adding that in this situation, kindness is the best preventative measure.

“We try to talk to the students about being kind and caring, because that seems to be a root cause of a lot of these issues,” he said.

In his letter, Corey reiterated that sentiment.

“It is important to remember that need can manifest itself across a spectrum from someone who is in acute crisis to someone who is having the stereotypical ‘bad day,'” he wrote. “Regardless of the situation, gestures that are kind, caring and patient may serve as the moment that deescalates that person or prompts him/her to seek treatment.”

It can be difficult to know when to speak up. According to Sandy Hook Promise, an organization founded by family members who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook school massacre, some of the signs are as follows: A fascination or obsession with firearms; bringing a weapon to school; excessive over reactions or aggressive behavior for a seemingly minor reason; lack of coping or anger management; bragging about access to firearms; or making overt threats of violence and more. For the full list, visit www.sandyhookpromise.org/get_educated.

Hannah LaClaire can be reached at 594-1243 or hlaclaire@nashuatelegraph.com.