Staff writer

School safety has been a major issue for discussion since the Columbine shooting.

It remains among the higher levels of interest in the media today because most people want their children to be safe when they attend school.

How are schools protecting today's students?

According to Superin-tendent Teddy White, all schools have an emergency management guide and every teacher has a copy.

Those guides go far beyond routine fire and tornado drills. They outline how to handle incidents involving chemical, biological and nuclear weapons as well as conventional wea-pons.

In addition to lists of teachers, special needs students and assembly areas, the guides have alternate building locations to which students may be evacuated. They also include guides for helping children cope with disaster.

Grayson County schools all have emergency management plans to ensure student safety. These plans involve more than one might think.

Alternate buildings have been marked for students to gather should the actual school building be unsafe. Buildings both within walking distance and within bussing distance are identified.

Teachers and administrators have additional roles in cases of emergencies. Those roles extend to janitors and lunchroom employees.

Prinicpals and adminstrators across the county have even thought about the possiblity of keeping students over-night or for several days in cases of extreme danger in the county.