MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — School shootings and multiple threats have officers thinking of more ways to keep students safe.
One school resource officer is bringing an idea to help with emergency supplies and a bucket straight to the classroom.
Officer Jason Deaton is a school resource officer at Middletown Public Schools.
He says most days are pretty quiet, but he wants the schools to be prepared if there’s ever a day like what’s happened at so many schools across the country, a school shooting.
“I’m tired of sitting back and we’re not doing anything to help control this situation. The way I look at it is let’s be prepared for it, so if it does happen, we’re ready for it,” said Deaton.
He helped come up with a plan that he learned about at a training. It’s to arm teachers with what they’re calling the barricade bucket.
“If we’re barricaded in and someone’s bleeding, we have a tourniquet that the teachers or any of the students can use,” Deaton said.
The bucket is filled with emergency supplies teachers can use for students if they’re ever trapped in a classroom during a crisis or lockdown.
“It gives me some peace of mind to know that there will be safety supplies and things and everywhere,” said eighth grade teacher Casey Scott. “We pass out band-aids every single day, and if there was any sort of emergency that would happen, I would do everything that I could to keep everyone I’m responsible for safe, just like I would do to my own kids.”
Teachers will be trained on how to use what’s in the emergency supplies in the barricade buckets, but she says right now they don’t have much more than a map of the school and a class roster for emergencies in the classroom.
That’s why Officer Deaton is trying to raise enough money so every classroom will have a barricade bucket instead.
“That’s my goal every day to make sure they get home safe,” said Deaton.
The school resource officer says each bucket costs about $130 for the emergency supplies. They’ve also started fundraising online, for more information, click here.
