LOUISVILLE, Ky. — From the locks on the doors at your child's school, to the hiring of security officers and mental health counselors.
Nearly 1,300 Kentucky public schools responded to a survey that is part of an annual report from the Kentucky Office of the State School Security Marshal.
The questions got right down to the basics like asking about locks on doors, cameras around property and who wears ID badges.
However, the report also took a look at how well schools are handling mental health services and other security measures.
Safety and security are two things top of mind for many parents like Denesha Wheat, who has a fourth grader that attends Lincoln Elementary Performing Arts School.
"Some places, they don't really take it that seriously. So I'm glad that I chose a school where they do take it seriously or a district where they do take it seriously," Wheat said.
The annual report, which covered from August 2021-June 2022, showed an overwhelming majority of public schools across Kentucky are meeting the safety requirements when it comes to things like cameras, electronic locking doors and more.
"I'm very at ease, especially with some of the things happening around the country. So I love that they take all those extra measures, even if it is a hassle for me sometimes," Wheat said.
However, there are two topics in the report that shows schools falling short by their admission: mental health resources and School Resource Officers (SROs).
Each school should have one Counselor or School-Based Mental Health Provider per 250 students, a requirement only 44% of schools are meeting, and something JCPS is achieving.
But what does this mean for the other 56% of schools who aren't meeting that need?
"It's not just saying you need to take this mental health training, there's so much out there, it's what are you going to do with it? And how are you? How are we going to empower our kids to take advantage of it?" Gwen Cooper asked.
Cooper is the President & CEO of Accessia Health, and she said there are reasons these resources could be lacking.
"We know that we have a shortage of mental health providers, number one, so there's something that we have to talk about," she said.
But she also noted it's about breaking down stigmas that may surround mental health treatment and resources.
"You can have the opportunity to get help, but we have to erase the stigma for somebody to be able to go into the counselor's office or go into a mental health provider's office and say, I really need to talk to you about something," Cooper said.
Another issue outlined in the report is the SRO requirements not being met.
In accordance with Kentucky law, each school should have at least one SRO.
Roughly 45%, or 572 schools, meet this requirement. However, about 55%, or 703 schools, are not meeting this standard.
"Even in the Texas incident, there were officers outside, and they didn't do anything," Wheat said.
Bloom Elementary parent Martin Hall said it goes deeper than officers on campuses.
"There are larger systems in place, they should do a better job than they have done in terms of preventing those kinds of tragedies," Hall said. "It's too much to ask for any particular school like this one, to address those problems."
Parents and mental health professionals alike said although there are improvements to be made, it's promising to see these goals being addressed.
Kelly Foreman with the Department of Criminal Justice Training said as of Sept. 1, more than 50% of schools now have SROs in the building.
When WHAS11 News asked which districts this applied to, she said they cannot disclose the specific schools as that would be a safety threat. The inquiry was for the districts, not the individual schools.
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