JEFFERSON TWP — A safety meeting on Thursday night educated about 15 South Butler School District parents on the steps being taken to keep their children safe.

Superintendent Dave Foley and school police officers Pat Sarnese and Tony Ravotti shared information with the parents, five school board members and the principals from all but one school in the district.

Foley said after the Parkland, Fla., school shooting on Feb. 14, about 10 concerned parents called him to inquire about safety measures in the district.

Foley listed the various safety features at the school, including door grabbers in every classroom, which wrap around the door jamb and prevent it from being opened.

Captured entrances, card reader systems for staff, safety training, cameras and an anonymous tip line in the district are already in place, Foley said.

A safety method the district is seriously considering is the addition of metal detectors.

Foley said it is still undecided if all students or random groups would go through the detectors each day, or which schools would use them.

He said many Butler County schools use metal detectors, including the Butler School District, where every student entering the building in the morning passes through a detector.

But staffing the detectors could be an issue, he said.

“We're still discussing it and trying to figure out a way to make it manageable,” Foley said.

The major safety upgrade the district has invested in, Foley said, was adding a team of school police officers four years ago.

Because only state police are permitted to carry a gun inside a school, according to state law, all four school police officers in the district are retired state troopers with more than a total of 130 years of police work under their belts.

Pat Sarnese, the team leader, also went over the many and varied safety systems in place within the district, including new fences at the primary center and intermediate schools, improved walkie talkies used by all personnel who take students outside and “hot button” phones in each classroom that allow teachers to immediately reach the officers or nurse.

There also are triage kits in the nurses' offices, improved digital capabilities in the district's 200 cameras that allow clearer pictures and saving capabilities, four evacuation plans and the district has changed all locks so that keys are tightly controlled.

Numerous classroom safety presentations that are age-appropriate, vinyl classroom numbers on the windows so responders know the room numbers from outside, and ALICE training for teachers and administrators have been done.

Sarnese said student ALICE — Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate — training is done in the event that the worst should happen in a school.

He described the student training on Thursday night to the parents who attended the safety meeting so they would know exactly what their students would be learning.

Sarnese said the main safety measure that has made a difference in student behavior, including fights, sexting and other teen-related issues, is the officers constant patrolling in the schools.

“I want every kid in every building to think I'm coming around the corner at every time of the day,” Sarnese said.

He said the addition of a female retired trooper to the team was like “finding a unicorn” because young students and female students feel more comfortable sharing information with her.

Parent Mandy Johnson said while she was disappointed at the number of parents who attended, she was very pleased with what she heard from Foley and Sarnese.

She said she was unaware of all the safety measures in place in the district, like vinyl room numbers on the windows so firefighters or police can enter the correct room in an emergency.

“They're the things you don't think about every day, so I'm glad they are paying attention to details,” Johnson said.

She was grateful that the district offered the meeting on Thursday night.

“I love South Butler and I have had a very positive experience here,” she said.