WILDWOOD, Mo. — School administrators and resource officers from around the St. Louis area came together for a course on school safety, coincidentally scheduled days after gunfire at two separate football jamborees.
One of those shootings left 8-year-old Jurnee Thompson dead.
The conference was at Lafayette High School on Wednesday, led by a member of the Secret Service.
The goal was to reinforce for people who interact with children at school — from school resource officers to counselors to school administrators — what the potential signs of a threat to the school could be.
"It can hit any community and we need to be prepared," said Mike Mooney, a school resource officer at Pattonville High School.
He said the shootings at Parkway North and nearby Soldan High School exemplified that.
"I couldn't sleep that night because i just can't imagine the school administrators, the teachers and the coaches that were at that event," he said.
Mooney said there were already changes made at their school's football games this year.
At Hazelwood Schools football games, all bags will be checked starting on Friday.
Meanwhile, at Parkway Schools and Rockwood School District football games, there will be more security at games starting on Friday.
"We'll always work harder to make sure our schools are safe. We've done a lot already but we have more to do," said Parkway Schools Superintendent Keith Marty.
He, along with other conference attendees, said that's the whole point of attending events like Wednesday's at Lafayette High School: to ensure student safety.
St. Louis Public Schools they will be announcing security changes Thursday.