Put more guns in schools.
That's one of the National Rifle Association's answers to preventing tragedies like the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Roanoke City Schools superintendent Rita Bishop says keeping students safe is her number one priority. She received praise from City Council on Monday for being well ahead of the curve.
Bishop says her school's emergency procedures are readily available to students, teachers, and first responders and she's always monitoring and perfecting it.
Every middle and elementary school already has all doors locked to outsiders and one entrance that requires you to be buzzed in.
Both William Fleming and Patrick Henry used to be open-air high schools with multiple buildings.
The $106 million spent to make both new schools single buildings also upgraded the safety and security of those schools.
Bishop is already extremely confident in the procedures the city has in place, and is strongly opposed to arming teachers, calling the thought "terrifying.”
"I want my teachers to teach. That's what they were trained to do and I want them to walk in knowing that they don't have the responsibility of doing what other people in society were trained to do,” Bishop said.
Every middle and high school in Roanoke City has armed police officers in the schools.
The School Board also gets consultation from a school safety expert from Cleveland.
He made recommendations in 2008, and he's coming back within the next two weeks to check for himself that everything's running smoothly.
