With the new school year approaching, new safety measures will be at the forefront for all Lafayette Parish schools.
Starting this Thursday, a new law will take effect requiring Lafayette schools work with law enforcement agencies to update their crisis management and response plans.
Copies of the plan go to the Lafayette Parish School Board, the Administration, and law enforcement agencies.
As Lafayette Parish schools gear up for the school year, Carencro Middle School is making sure it's in compliance with the new law.
"We have a police officer fully staffed on our campus as our resource officer, so our working relationship with them goes hand in hand," Principal Dr. Spurgeon Banyard said.
Dr. Banyard is making sure his staff has a copy of the school's safety policies and procedures, including new elements like using codewords over the intercom in the event an intruder has entered the building.
"For example, we know the sky is blue. I can get on the intercom and say, staff forgive me for this interruption but the sky is purple. Anything, something similar to something like that to let staff know that we're in alert mode," Dr. Spurgeon said.
Lafayette Parish School System says it's requiring principals to address how they're complying with the new law.
"Many of the things that act 50 outlines we already had in place. For instance, our crisis management plan has already been reviewed by law enforcement personnel. Having this act just kind of put a little teeth behind things and heightens everyone's sense of awareness and gets us focused on safety as we start the new school year," L.P.S.S. Health and Wellness Director Bradley Cruice said.
"It's an on-going thing to make sure that our staff, that once we put that alert in place that they automatically know what to do what procedures to do and how to do it as well, because the number one job for an administrator is to protect the staff and student body of the school," Dr. Banyard said.