Marietta High hosts school safety training - Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Marietta police are joining school authorities to put their school safety plans to the test.  Classes and drills are scheduled for the school system, and things got underway with a workshop at Marietta High School on Thursday.

The training involves administrators, staff and police, and its goal is to ensure that the city's school system is doing as much as possible to maintain student safety.  During the workshop, response plans were reviewed and coordinated, and officials said they would also update and test assignments for school employees, including school resource officers.

"That is what we are trying to bring here today to teach them, from a law enforcement standpoint,  on the basic fundamentals of what they need to know  in order to keep the schools safe and to keep their children safe," said Officer Adam Gravitt of the Marietta Police Department.

The district says the training was not scheduled in response to the Connecticut school shootings, but given the new emphasis on school safety, they wanted to make it clear that security and training are a top priority.  

"Schools are prisons, but we want to make sure our students are safe as possible and we continually review our safety protocols to make sure that happens," said Marietta High School administrator Gregory Taylor.

David Dubose,  a veteran teacher , said that he has previous security training, but listened closely on Thursday.

"Putting things in that frame of mind for us so we that know what to think and how to be prepared and make sure the kids are prepared. It was very useful today," said Dubose.

A security drill is planned at Marietta High School later in the month.

Two Marietta police officers are stationed at the city's high school daily. The department has deployed other officers throughout the system of about 8,400 students.