RAYTOWN, Mo. — Raytown school district has something unique to keep students safe from an active shooter. It’s called a barracuda.
The device is next to every classroom door in the district and if there is an active shooter in the building, a teacher places it on the bottom of the door and keeps that classroom secured.
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“It doesn’t matter if the intruder has gotten the master key from someone, it doesn’t matter if they shot off the door lock, they still wouldn’t be able to get through the door with this in place,” said Dr. Travis Hux, Assistant Superintendent of Support Services at Raytown School District.
It’s one of many security measures the district has added in response to school shootings across the country.
“A lot of training comes as a result of a school shooting,” said Hux.
The shooting at the high school in Florida on Wednesday will likely spur more change in school districts in the area.
“I want to make sure I feel confident our system would keep people like him from coming back in the school so we need to review that and make sure that doesn't happen,” said John Douglass, Director of Safety and Security at Shawnee Mission School District.
Shawnee Mission School District has a comprehensive emergency plan that teachers can access on an iPad in their classrooms.
“So you can flip it up for an intruder and see the 5 or 6 things to do,” said Douglass.
Staff and students also do active shooter training once a month.
Raytown’s training is only for staff, student’s don’t participate.
Hux said yesterday’s shooting in Florida is an example of why they choose to only have staff trained for an active shooter situation.
“Unfortunately, many of the intruders in these situations are students or former students. That’s why we limit the information we pass along to students because we’re not sure if, or which one might become a shooter one day,” said Dr. Hux.
Both districts will be looking at the full report from the shooting in Florida to see what they can change and adjust to better prepare students and staff for an active shooter.
