RICHARDSON, Texas — Police, school administrators and counselors met Tuesday in Richardson to discuss school safety at the School Safety First Conference.
Former Santa Fe ISD Superintendent Leigh Wall recalls all too well the moment she learned there was an active shooter inside Santa Fe High School.
“My first response was disbelief and then horror -- could this really be happening?” said Wall. ”It’s unimaginable that this could happen."
It was May 18, 2018, 10 people died.
Wall was the superintendent then, but is retired and speaks around the country sharing with others what she learned from that tragic day.
”You should be working together with law enforcement. You should feel comfortable working with mental health, as well as counselors,” said Wall.
Craig Miller, a former Dallas ISD police chief, also spoke at the conference.
”The issue is when you have a student that is willing to die for a cause, including shooting through a door to gain access to the school," said Miller. "Really, all you are doing is trying to mitigate the amount of damage that they can do."
Miller says it is crucial for police, school administrators and counselors to meet often to discuss threat assessment to see if there are students showing signs of trouble.
"Having more ballistic shields for school districts and unlimited funding for something like that won’t go as far as having more funding for counselors so more kids can get the help they need,” said Miller.
And he says there needs to be continuous training reinforcing the small things, like locking doors.
“One of the things we’ve learned in school safety is we have yet to have a gunman who has done something to someone inside a locked classroom,’ said Miller
They say that, while they have made strides, there is still a lot of work to be done.