PARIS, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) – A local school district is looking to make its community a safer place. Paris Union School District 95 seeks to improve relationships between students and teachers with a new training.
Last year, Paris Union School District received over $8 million in funds to improve school operations, programming, and school safety.
A significant portion of the funds for school safety came from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Paris Union District Prevention Coordinator Faith Milam said the start of the school year is a great time to train teachers and staff on how to handle many other unprecedented scenarios.
“It takes a village to raise a child and we are very aware of that here in Paris,” Milam said. “It’s important for teachers to understand trauma and all these things that kids go to now. We have kids that are in foster care, and deal with child abuse and run away from their homes.”
Superintendent Jeremy Larson said as students often look to teachers for guidance regardless of their at-home situation, it’s essential for staff to be well-trained.
“When a student feels isolated that’s when events occur,” Larson said. “It’s so important to us that each and every day we are working on building those relationships and crossing those bridges.”
Between the school safety grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as funds from other competitive grants, Larson said the district’s safety measures have come a long way.
“Some of the outcomes included tripling our mental health workforce, it allowed us to get individuals CPR and AED certified as instructors,” Larson said. “We also have recently sent staff after training out of state with national security experts, to learn how to handle situations if an active shooting event were to occur.”
Milam said the school district looks forward to expanding even more safety efforts in the future.
“Teachers are with students a majority of the day, and we are really excited to partner with teachers, parents, staff members, and community members as a whole,” Milam said.
Paris 95 schools will host ALICE training with first responders, national experts, as well as all school employees and administration. The training will take place on September 1 and 2.
