‘Are we doing everything right?’: Nashville shooting prompts LPS to look closer at safety

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The recent tragic shooting at a Nashville school has sparked Lincoln schools to reconsider security for their own students.

“Anytime there’s a school tragedy in the nation, it’s felt here,” said Joseph Wright, director of security for Lincoln Public Schools. “We have to ask ourselves, ‘Are we doing everything right or as well as we can so that we can help avoid or minimize any damage like that?’ Those are hard discussions.”

Six people were killed in a devastating school shooting in Nashville on Monday.

The ripple effect has reached Lincoln families.

Wright said parents have reached out to him, worried for their own children.

He said he’s taken steps to make LPS as safe as possible.

“I think mostly just turning our drills into a safety curriculum because that’s what schools do best, is teach and learn,” Wright said. “The safest thing in our schools is to have a positive relationship with a trusted adult, and if something doesn’t seem right, to report that.”

SEE ALSO: Lincoln Public Schools working to prevent shootings, make sure students aren’t scared

Wright said they often do drills at schools to teach students and staff the best plan.

And LPS also works with Lincoln Police, doing structured exercises and meeting after tragedies like the one in Nashville.

“We have an ongoing, good relationship with the police all the time.”

Wright said it’s a difficult aspect of his job, but shootings like what happened in Nashville can help teach others how to be better prepared.

“It’s a really weird conversation to have, especially after what just happened a couple of days ago,” he said. “Sadly, people were killed there, they were murdered there, but a lot of the people at that school did things very well, and we’re starting to hear that maybe that saved lives.”

SEE ALSO: Safe to Say button helps LPS stop student from bringing BB gun to school

All of the safety curriculum used at LPS can be found on its website, including the Safe to Say button, where you can report concerns.

But Wright said the most important thing is good communication between everyone, parents, students and teachers.

“Knowing the kids lost their lives is very, very hard,” Wright said. “The important message for us is that it’s not just our security that keeps people safe, but it’s really everyone. All of our kids, all of our employees, all of our families. So we have a big team.”