Public forum held to address Jessamine County school safety concerns
A public forum was held at East Jessamine High School on Tuesday, with organizers hoping to help put minds at ease.
The forum comes after two recent reports of a gun in school. One stemmed from a prank at East Jessamine High School. In the other case, a vaping device was mistaken for a gun by a student at East Jessamine Middle School.
'Ninety-nine point nine percent of all of those situations turn out to be something that is not going to bring a real threat to people, but as they said previously, we have to take them all seriously,' Brady Thornton, West Jessamine High School principal, said.
Public forum held to address Jessamine County school safety concerns
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Leaders took turns answering questions, most of them dealing with the lockdown procedure.
Kentucky State Representative Matt Lockett (R) was the forum moderator. He read a statement from a parent that said they wanted quicker communication from the schools when a lockdown occurs.
'So please understand that I think you all would much rather get an accurate message with facts that's pretty well written,' responded Beth Carpenter, director of student services. 'Sometimes the reality is that to get the message right, it's not going to be instant.'
One parent who attended praised responders for acting quickly but said she was also upset it took an hour for her to hear from the school after the event.
'I understand you have to wait and get all the information, but an hour after that incident, and I'm going out of my mind,' Kristina Blanton said.
Superintendent Sara Crum said messages started going out through the communication app 'Remind' within about 12 minutes. Leaders mentioned there were some complications with the app, and they have worked to fix the problems and are learning from the situation.
Read more of the latest Kentucky news
'I hear your frustration and know what we're working on on our end too is pre-messaging,' Carpenter said.
A petition has been started to get metal detectors installed in the schools. Crum said there is research that says they are not the answer to school safety, but the idea is not off the table.
However, she said right now there is not enough staff or money to put detectors in place.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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