GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Even though Northeast Wisconsin is over 1,500 miles away from a town in Texas in which 14 students and a teacher were senselessly murdered this week, emotions locally are still running high.
Area school districts and law enforcement alike are taking steps in an effort to soothe the worries of parents and students alike.
“Sometimes there’s always, we have to actually keep the school safe but sometimes people benefit too just from seeing a police officer, especially after something like this happens. Just to reassure the public that we are there and that we do take this, our kids’ safety very seriously,” Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis said.
There was extra police presence at schools in the Green Bay area on Wednesday.
Davis says law enforcement has a responsibility to make sure they do everything they can to prevent something like Uvalde from happening here.
“Certainly maintain the readiness to respond in the event that it does but really our efforts need to focus on prevention up front,” Davis said.
The Brown County Sheriff’s Office also has some preventative protocols in place.
“When issues come up of concerns, that either a student has, maybe staff of a school, we immediately address it. So we have that communication, find out what the issues might be, and then work with the school district to solve it,” Brown County Sheriff Todd Delain said.
Davis says the department collaborates with other agencies and fire departments to make sure they can respond as efficiently as possible.
He says for a city of this size, Green Bay also has a fairly large school resource program.
The Appleton Area School District sent a letter out to families highlighting mental health resources and safety protocols. Sheree Garvey with the Appleton Area School District.
“Every one of our students and families are going to come in with different fears and concerns. So we want our families to reach out to us to express those concerns. We want to assure them of our different safety measures that we have in place but then honor and validate what their feelings are and talk that through with them,” Garvey said.
The district says they’re prioritizing staff and student needs right now.
