It’s doing what the district does anyway, Monongalia Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. said Thursday — just more of it.
He was referring to this week’s stepped-up police patrols around Mon’s schools, which were instituted in response to a shooting at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday that left 19 children and two adults dead.
Authorities in Uvalde, Texas, say Salvador Ramos, 18, walked into Robb Elementary School by way of an unlocked door — and began firing.
Ramos, according to authorities, was armed with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and done out in tactical gear. The siege ended when a U.S. Border Patrol team burst in and shot him to death.
The small town in the Texas hill country is around 50 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.
In Morgantown, Campbell said he immediately got on the telephone Tuesday as the news was breaking.
He checked in with every principal in the district.
Then, he contacted Morgantown and Westover’s city police departments, plus the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department, to ask for the increased presence.
The added patrols will stay in place for the rest of the year.
On Tuesday evening, he sent a message out to parents, saying counselors would also be available for any students who might need the extra support.
The idea, he said, was to assure parents that every measure would be made to keep their children safe, both physically and emotionally.
“This tragedy is a shocking reminder of how quickly the simple routine of the school day can be fatally upended by school violence,” the superintendent wrote in that message.
“School should, and must, be a place where students feel completely safe and secure.”
He said Thursday it was difficult for him to process the enormity of the violence in Texas, coupled with other school shootings across the nation over the years.
Anytime one happens, he said, he flashes back to his days as a high school principal in Virginia.
“You’re responsible for the safety of everyone in your building,” he said.
“Here, you have 19 innocent children and two dedicated, caring adults – gone.”
Tragedies or no, school systems still move to their own rhythms. This weekend is graduation weekend in Mon’s district for the Class of 2022.
University High sends its seniors forth this evening. Morgantown High’s ceremonies are Saturday morning and Clay-Battelle’s commencement is Sunday afternoon.
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