Over 50 school shootings have taken place across the country in 2024 alone, leaving many injured and causing multiple deaths. The threat of violence is something that weighs on many students’ thoughts throughout the school year.
The high school has taken steps such as arming specific teachers, panic buttons, lockdown drills and specialized teacher training to protect students in the event of an active shooter situation.
“People are trained, people that are expected to step up and make those difficult decisions,” Principal Paul Weinhiemer said. “They have to make quick choices, such as choosing to go into the hall and fight or stay in the classroom to help those students.”
The administration installed a new system to further protect students and staff: panic buttons. These are in every classroom and are in addition to the black call buttons connected to only the office.
“Our technology department did work on them over summer break, and they finished at the beginning of the school year,” Weinheimer said. “When pressed, they send out a text message and an email to LHS Administrators, district admin and the Lampasas Police Department. These are for higher violence than, for example, if two kids are in a physical fight. We can break that up. These buttons are if someone believes a student has a weapon or if there is a threat in the hall.”
The high school is also equipped with a “Fast Action Response Team,” including many staff members such as the nurse and administrators.
“As you might be able to guess, our safety team is mostly made up of teachers with different backgrounds such as military, police and fire,” Weinheimer said. “We meet with them more often than just our usual meetings with the entire staff.”
This year, students have been especially fearful of threats made against their school.
“When I come into school, my biggest fear is I’m not going to walk out,” sophomore Michalea White said. “I won’t be able to see my family or friends again. I wish our district would offer online school; I would gladly stare at a computer screen for six hours instead of being afraid for my life.”
The district works hard to reassure students that they are safe.
“When something tragic happens, it always heightens people’s anxiety and fear,” Weinheimer said. “You want kids to come to school, be creative, enjoy learning, and being around each other, but you need them to be safe. It’s a balance we try to maintain as best we can.”
Offhanded threats, some claim to be “jokes,” said during school hours or on social media are taken extremely seriously. Not only are these comments against the Student Code of Conduct, but they are not funny and the offender will face consequences.
“These threats get reported just like any other thing,” Weinheimer said. “If someone says something in class, and another person picks up on something and reports to us, we take it seriously. We talk to the other students and teacher who may have heard something. If the general consensus is that the student was joking, they will still be punished. We talk to parents about the child’s behavior at home, seeing if they have any access to weapons.”
Administrators filter empty threats made to the school and try to avoid fear-mongering.
“Our district administration does an awesome job of helping us decide what to relay to parents, and what to keep within our school,” Weinheimer said. “We’re not trying to hide anything from parents, but we don’t want to raise red flags when it’s not needed. If we need further advice, we can turn to our resource officer and our local police department.”
