COLUMBUS – As students return to classrooms for the second post-pandemic school year, school officials and parents are dealing with the troubling realities for safety and the emotional toll of COVID-19.
In the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, police, city officials and school leaders in Dublin met over the summer to discuss the response to a critical incident at a school.
The training session focused on the Dublin Police Department’s plan for informing students, families, community members and the media during an active threat.
Police and the schools also touted the “See Something, Say Something” campaign to encourage vigilant community members.
This November, the Dublin City Schools and Dublin Police will hold a safety drill along with fire personnel and teachers to practice their joint response to an active threat scenario at a school.
Students will not be involved in the training, officials said.
Schools focus on mental health
This year’s back-to-school season will restore a degree of pre-pandemic normalcy. But many of COVID-19’s lasting impacts remain a troubling reality for schools.
Among them: student mental health reached crisis levels last year. The pressure on schools to figure out solutions has never been greater.
Districts across the country are using federal pandemic money to hire more mental health specialists, rolling out new coping tools and expanding curriculum that prioritizes emotional health.