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Fayette Co. Schools Reviews Safety Procedures, Sends Officers to Middle and Elementary Schools

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Tom Shelton reminded school principals and administrators over the weekend of the district’s building entrance and safety procedures following the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.

Those procedures include making sure visual and verbal contact is made with a visitor before they are buzzed into the school, checking their ID, and making sure they have an escort. All cameras and buzzers were checked and are fully operation.

Fayette County is the only school district in the state to have its own police force stationed at high schools. District spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall says those officers will expand their coverage area.

“The Superintendent spoke with our director of law enforcement and asked them to work out a way where we could have officers patrolling all of our elementary and middle schools in their squad cars so that parents would see that increased presence. And we intend that to be a reassurance for parents, not for them to wonder if something’s wrong.”

Experts say it’s not unusual for false rumors of violence to spread quickly following a mass shooting. Fayette County officials addressed one such rumor at a Lexington high school Monday morning by sending an email to parents and issuing statements on the district’s website and social media pages that the threat was not credible.

Lexington native Brenna Angel anchored local morning newscasts for WUKY through May 13. She joined the station in March 2010 after previously working for WHAS-AM in Louisville.