Jackson schools are implementing more safety measures in the new school year, officials said, in an effort to keep students safer.

Jessica Maxwell, principal at East Elementary, spoke to the school board Tuesday about KIDAccount, a new system to help organize pickups, increasing safety for elementary-school students, she said.

Parents are given a card with each student�s name and a barcode, she said, and the school keeps a list of approved people who can pick up the students, as well as the schedule for each student � where they�re going, at what time, and with whom.

Since the program�s software is web-based, there are no worries about needing an app, for instance, Maxwell said.

The program also lists people who are not approved to pick up each student, Maxwell said, thus alerting administration and school resource officers to help protect against concerns.

�To me, the biggest benefit is to parents and students,� Maxwell said. �The safety piece of it is the most important.�

Lt. Alex Broch, communications officer for the Jackson Police Department, introduced the school resource officers, or SROs, then spoke about the new ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) Training, or active-shooter training, the district�s SROs started Tuesday.

Once the officers are trained, Broch said, they can then train other people in the district, even community members, �but we�ll focus on the schools first.�

Each school building also has a direct call system to the department, meaning if there is ever an incident, the police dispatch system will receive a call.

Buildings also have high-definition cameras, he said, which is helpful.

Officers are asked to visit each school building, not only to maintain a presence, he said, but also to familiarize themselves with the layouts.

The police department is working with the district and the City of Jackson to help address the parking and traffic situations at the school buildings, Broch added.

Broch said he has a child in the school system, and most of the police force has at least one child in the school system.

�We care about the safety in the schools just as much as anybody else does,� Broch said, adding the safety includes not only active-shooter situations, but weather-related issues as well.

The district and the police department are working together to apply for a grant for more funds to implement more safety measures, Broch noted.

Community member Donna Tidwell addressed the board about school safety. She said she applauds everything the district has done to improve safety, and thanked the board for allowing her to speak.

Tidwell said she wanted to write a grant to secure funds for more safety measures, including metal detectors at every building.

She asked whether not having metal detectors would be a liability to the school in case of an incident.

Tidwell asked the board to consider surveying the community of Jackson to see what measures residents would like to

see implemented.

In other action, superintendent John Link gave an update on the construction at various buildings, to be completed ahead of the Aug. 22 start date for classes.

�We�re doing well,� Link said.

The new construction at the high school, North Elementary and the middle school are all nearly complete.

West Lane�s construction is on schedule except for the FEMA shelter, which is not essential, Link said.

Link said the district is planning open houses for the new construction, first for the students and their families, then for the community at large.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630