File photo of a classroom in the newly-remodeled Clintonville Elementary School on Oct. 12, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — The start of a new school year is just ahead in Northeast Wisconsin, but it comes amidst a slew of false active shooter reports at colleges across the country and Wednesday’s deadly shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis.
Neenah Police Officer Joe Benoit said schools in the district are doing what they can to prepare for the coming school year.
“The schools are all going through their active shooter, active threat response protocols,” Benoit said. “They do safety drills and orientations, then live drills.”
Benoit has been teaching local businesses and organizations how to stay safe during an active threat for years.
“My biggest recommendation for parents is to make sure your kids take those seriously and learn from them. Learn what they should do, how to react in what circumstances. If they have questions, certainly reach out to your school resource officers or call your local police department and ask to talk to an officer about that,” he said.
Officer Matthew Roe with the Menasha Police Department added suspicious or dangerous activity can move past in-person threats.
“If there’s something that you see online, there’s no harm in reporting it. There’s lots of ways to report it. You can do it anonymously,” he said.
Roe said the Menasha PD’s resource officers are returning to schools full time.
“That’s just to be there as an individual, but that’s there to be there as a police officer, an informal counselor and also to provide education to help kids,” Roe said.
Dr. William Kumprey with ThedaCare says it’s important to check in with your children at home for mental health struggles they may be facing.
“If you notice that they aren’t sleeping as well, even though they’re going to bed, they’re kind of up all night. They’re anxious, they’re losing weight, they’re not eating, they’re hyper focused on their image when they’re normally not,” he said. “There are things that you can tie into where you’re like, this is a change. And then you have an open conversation about it.”
Most schools in our area start classes Tuesday.
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