Editor’s Note: At 10:20 a.m. on Wednesday, May 25, Habersham County E-911 dispatched law enforcement to the scene of a reported shooting at Central Alliance Church in Mt. Airy. The church is located on Camp Creek Road at GA 197 South, across the road from the Habersham Ninth Grade Academy and Habersham Central High School. School superintendent Matthew Cooper issued the following statement regarding the school system’s handling of the situation:
“As soon as we became aware that there had been a possible shooting near the church in Mt. Airy, we placed all schools on a precautionary lockdown. Our Principals immediately sent out a One Call message to parents notifying them that there was law enforcement activity near a school and that we were putting a lockdown in place simply as a precaution. As I began to gather details about the incident, I became aware that there was in fact a shooting that took place near the church across the road from the Ninth Grade Academy and Habersham Central. I learned that it appeared to be domestic in nature and not a random act of violence. I made the decision at that point to send out a One Call from me to all parents in the school system.
During events like this, I believe it is important to be as transparent as possible and to share as many facts as possible to keep rumors and panic from spreading. Most importantly, I wanted parents to know that their students were safe, that the shooting did not take place at a school, and that we were taking the necessary precautions at our schools.
Later on, we received the all-clear from the Sheriff’s Office and were informed that the shooter was in custody. Sheriff Terrell and I spoke about how to handle the remainder of the school day and we both agreed that it was in the best interest of our students to resume normal activities in our schools.
There were no threats to any school and the incident at the church was contained.
We not only are concerned about the physical safety of our students but also their mental well-being. In light of the evil that took place in Texas yesterday, we wanted to keep things as normal as possible for our students. We did not want to create fear, panic or mental trauma for our students. Some parents chose to come get their children from school, which we certainly respect, but most of our parents realized their children were safe and trusted the schools to keep them safe for the remainder of the day.
I was beyond impressed with the way law enforcement responded to the scene of the incident and how they responded to our schools to make sure they were safe. Our EMS personnel here in Habersham County also performed remarkably today.
Our Principals also performed admirably today in keeping their students safe, keeping them calm, and in ensuring there was a secure perimeter at their schools.
I am told the person who was the victim in the shooting will likely make a full recovery. This was perhaps the best news of the day.
The incident in Texas is heartbreaking and disturbing, to say the least. I want our parents here in Habersham to know that they can rest assured that their students are safe in our schools. We do more for safety in our school system than most. Our staff will tell you that Safety is the number priority in this school system.
When I came to Habersham ten years ago, we only had 2 officers in our schools. Now we have 8 and added one this year. All of our schools now have an officer that spends time at their school every day. We will continue to add resource officers in the future.
It is important to note that nearly all of the people carrying out these random acts of violence have mental health issues. For this reason, our school system added two additional mental health specialists this year to care for our students. We now have three full-time mental health specialists that work full time for our schools. There is no doubt that their work makes our schools and students here in Habersham safer than most.
We also have secure buzz-in entrances at all schools. We have the best cameras at all schools that monitor both the inside and outside of the schools. Our office staff are trained in how to screen visitors and how to respond if someone they do not recognize shows up at the school.
Our amazing partnership with the Sheriff’s Office also makes our schools safer. It is also worth noting that our school system has been named by Niche.com as one of the 25 safest systems in Georgia for five years in a row.
Here is a list of some of the safety initiatives we have in place in our school system:
System Safety Team
Adam Bagwell serves as our system safety team director
We have a system safety team that meets every month with the purpose of finding ways to make our school system safer. This team is made up of key system leaders and school administrators from all schools.
Our school system safety team has received training from the FBI on active-shooter prevention and response. Some of our administrators are now employing specific preventative measures that were shared by the FBI. These measures will remain confidential to ensure the highest level of effectiveness.
Safety Drills
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- Fire drills – One drill per month is required, except November and February, when severe weather drills are conducted in place of fire drills
- Severe weather drills -These drills are conducted twice per year.
- Lock-down drills -These drills are conducted at the school level and help schools prepare for dealing with an intruder or active shooter. The system requires that all schools conduct these lock down drills twice per year (once per semester)
- SAVE drills -These drills focus on the use of AEDs in schools. Conducted twice a year
- Bus evacuation drills -All schools participate in bus evacuation drills working with the transportation department. These drills are conducted at least once per year.
School System Safety Initiatives
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- “Raider Report” is used at all secondary schools. Students can use this app to report a school threat, weapons, drugs, bullying and suicide. Habersham County was the first school system in Georgia with such an app.
- Advanced camera systems are installed at all schools.
- In 2018, Habersham County became the only school system in the region to have its own Mental Health Specialist. In 2021, we added two more mental specialists bringing our total to 3.
- Every school has “Stop the Bleed” kits containing tourniquets and wound-packing materials.
- We have secure entrances at all schools. This means that no one gets in without being buzzed in by office personnel. Each school has two layers of buzz-in defense, meaning that visitors are buzzed in through two separate sets of doors.
- All Schools have Safety Plans that are updated annually and that specifically address Active Shooters. These school safety plans have been developed with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
- Our School system has a very strong relationship with Habersham County Sheriff’s Office. Our school board and the county have worked together to add additional resource officers over the years. We now have 8 full-time School Resource Officers.
- Our School System also works very closely with GEMA. GEMA often provides training to our system safety team in addition to reviewing our school safety plans.
- All Principals participate in a monthly safety scenario activity.”
SEE ALSO
Juvenile shot at Mt. Airy church across from schools, suspect in custody
