(InvestigateTV) — Every morning, parents send their kids to school and expect them to come home safe. Yet for many families, the threat of a school shooting is a very real fear.
In 2025, there were more than 160 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 54 deaths and 149 injuries, according to Everytown.
School security protocols are constantly evolving with student safety being paramount to any changes.
Lori Alhadeff founded the nonprofit Make Our Schools Safe after her daughter Alyssa was gunned down in the 2018 Parkland High massacre in Florida. Since then, Lori has fought for better protections in the classroom, like panic buttons and silent alarms for teachers.
“I say that time equals life. So knowing that they have their button and that they can push it and get law enforcement there, I think is so extremely important,” Alhadeff said.
District invests in police department
In 2013, the city of Meridian, Mississippi took safety a step further by establishing a school district police department and investing in new construction and high-tech security.
Students in schools are being exposed to violence, particularly shootings, at alarming rates. Forty-one percent of parents of K through 12 students fear for their oldest child’s safety at school, according to Gallup.
The public school district in Meridian is investing in being proactive.
AI detectors greet students when they arrive at Meridian High School. Inside the cafeteria is the school district’s police chief Cornelius Parks.
“At a very early age, I was drawn to this line of work,” Parks said.
Parks grew up in Meridian when the threats were different.
“This day in time, our main concern, ours is dealing with active shooters,” Parks said.
The district has invested in detectors, modern construction closing off access to a campus built in the 1930s, and an actual police department on campus.
“With the active shooters that that has occurred throughout our nation and other potential threats, I can see it being more confident and more intimidating,” Parks said.
The department was created in 2013 and the district claimed they have seen a reduction in incidents.
In 2024, the high school was locked down because shots were fired toward a car on campus, an elementary school was evacuated due to a bomb threat, and a child was arrested for making terroristic threats at a middle school.
Teachers and parents weigh safety concerns
Kimberly Gathings teaches ninth grade reading at Meridian High. Her son Chase is a star on the football team. She has a mother’s mindset when it comes to her son and all of her students.
“I feel myself as a teacher going as I moved through the building, making sure the doors closed all the way,” Gathings said. “Because one simple mistake can cause, you know, a world of problems.”
The fact that teachers cannot afford to make a simple mistake, like leaving a door ajar, speaks volumes. “It can happen at school. It can happen while you’re at the grocery store.”
“We’re talking about children. It’s mind boggling. I don’t even have words to describe that, but I think that’s why I chose this field, because, if I can prevent it and eliminate that threat, that’s what I would do 100% of the time,” Parks said.
Concerns about over-criminalization
Many task forces established after the Parkland High School massacre recommended increasing police presence in schools, according to a report published by the Department of Justice.
But some data suggests more police in schools leads to the over criminalization of non-criminal, youthful behavior.
In one study, while Black and Brown students only made up 40% of the school-age population, they accounted for 58% of school arrests, according to Justice Forward Virginia.
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