The South Butler School District is thinking about accepting a challenge that is well worth the effort. Superintendent David Foley said during the school district’s meeting last week that he attended a Rachel’s Challenge assembly the previous week at Butler High School and wants to bring the program to South Butler. The program is named after Rachel Joy Scott, who was the first person killed during the April 20, 1999, shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. That massacre has been followed by hundreds of school-related shootings in the 20 years since it occurred. Rachel’s Challenge — which is led by Rachel’s parents, Darrell and Sandy Scott — aims to reduce violence in schools, bullying and teen suicide. The program’s presentations are given in schools and communities by members of Scott’s family and other speakers, and typically utilize video footage of the Columbine shooting.

On the whole, as Foley put it, the program emphasizes a focus on “the positive” and “having good interactions with each other.”

South Butler experienced its own school-related security issue earlier this year after an 18-year-old student was arrested after he appeared in a Snapchat video firing an AK-type weapon with the caption “Training for prom walk.”

In the weeks since that incident, the school district has taken into consideration some important steps, from a proposal to place metal detectors in all district schools to the approval of funding for such items as additional radios and handcuffs.

Bringing Rachel’s Challenge to the district is a good idea. It would cost $3,000 per school building and would be used initially in the high school and middle school. Additionally, it would not replace other successful initiatives, such as the Superheroes program, which rewards sixth graders for positive behavior.

Anything extra a school district can do to increase security or improve interactions between students is a good thing. There have been 236 school shootings since Columbine — including one on Friday at a Baltimore high school.

These days, students across the nation take part in active shooter drills and are taught how to lock and barricade their classroom doors. Such methods are undoubtedly crucial in saving students’ lives in worst-case scenarios. But encouraging students to have respect for each other, interact positively, practice tolerance and report bullying are the type of tactics that can prevent school shootings from occurring in the first place. We believe that Rachel’s Challenge would be a welcome addition to the South Butler School District.