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As threats increase, Kansas Safe Schools director says safety officials need to keep improving

Elena Mendoza, 18, grieves in front of a cross honoring her cousin, Amerie Jo Garza, one of the victims killed in this week's elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Thursday, May 26, 2022.
Jae C. Hong
/
AP
Elena Mendoza, 18, grieves in front of a cross honoring her cousin, Amerie Jo Garza, one of the victims killed in the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022.

The beginning of this school years was "a rough couple of weeks," said John Calvert, the director of the Kansas Department of Education's Safe and Secure Schools Unit. School shooting responders must learn from mistakes of the past, he said.

John Calvert isn't just in charge of the Kansas Department of Education's Safe and Secure Schools unit. The former school resource officer is a dad who is concerned about his own children experiencing a school shooting.

The uptick in threats to start the 2024-2025 school year in Kansas has been challenging for Calvert.

"It has been a rough couple of weeks when it comes to the social media threats and things that are out there," he told Up to Date.

Calvert stressed the importance of building relationships between law enforcement personnel and educators in order to respond to threats quickly and effectively.

"Relationships are the number one thing we can do to keep our schools safe," he said, "because 'See something, say something' only works if there's somebody to say something to."

Calvert also said it's important to learn from tragedies like Uvalde, where an inadequate and indecisive response from law enforcement cost lives. The new orthodoxy in law enforcement response must be "We're no longer waiting, we have to go in," he said.

Most importantly, Calvert warned safety officials in Kansas must always look for areas to improve. Becoming too comfortable with current measures can leave schools unprepared for shootings.

"I've been in school safety now for 12 (years)," he said, "and I'm not comfortable in this at all."

  • John Calvert, Kansas Department of Education Safe and Secure Schools unit director
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When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.
Josh is the 2024-2024 Up To Date intern. Email him at jmarvine@kcur.org.
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