Classes are in session for students across Lake County, and with a new school year comes the same safety concerns for students, parents, law enforcement, teachers and school administrators.
In a decade where gun violence in schools has reached an all-time high, schools have prioritized physical security, emergency response plans and other safety protocols in the event of a crisis. According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, there were 277 deaths related to gun violence in 2022 in schools throughout the country, the highest in a single year in the country's history. Most recently, two children were killed and 17 people were injured during a shooting Aug. 27 at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on the third day of school.
While conversations about school safety must involve the possibility of an active shooter inside a school, school safety personnel said it's also important to address threats in the area outside a school; emergency crises involving inclement weather, medical emergencies and fires; and creating a supportive school environment where students can feel safe.
All Indiana schools follow guidelines set by lawmakers, but school resource officers and security personnel said each school's exact safety procedures differ based on community surroundings, crime rates and school design. Safety plans include investments in technology, training for students and staff, as well as cooperation from parents.
Lake Central School Corporation Director of Safety and Security Brian Kissinger compared school safety components to slices of Swiss cheese: each slice represents a layer of school safety, but each slice has holes, which he calls vulnerabilities.
"Our goal is to make those holes a little smaller, so the vulnerabilities are lesser," Kissinger said. "In active shooting events like Uvalde or Parkland, all of those holes lined up and somebody walked through those layers of protection."
In order to offset those risks, school safety officers work from the outside in, focusing on all components of community safety, physical security and social and emotional security for children inside their learning environment.
Prepare and protect
Emergency response protocols are relatively uniform at schools throughout Lake County, Kissinger said. Most schools in the district use the Standard Response Protocol created by the ", which has five components: Hold, Secure, Evacuate, Shelter and Lockdown. The lockdown protocols include three additional directives: Run, Hide or Defend.
The districts conduct regular drills that include responses from police, fire and EMS to ensure teachers, students and administrators are prepared in the event of an emergency. Each school has a location-specific emergency response plan that is shared with all staff and includes step-by-step information about how to respond in a variety of situations. Most schools have a trained, armed school resource officer on site during the school day.
"We want to figure out how to prepare and protect," Kissinger said, "before we have to respond and recover."
Kissinger is part of the Lake County Safe Schools Commission, which meets once a month to discuss safety and security matters throughout the county. The commission is co-chaired by Michael O'Donnell, Director of School Safety and Security for the Hanover Community School Corporation, and Lake County Sheriff's Chief of Police Vince Balbo.
"It's a forum for school safety directors, school administrators and teachers," Balbo said. "It deals with every aspect of school security."
O'Donnell said Hanover and many other districts emphasize proactive preparation by conducting regular threat assessments every two years with a district team and also discussing findings in Safe Schools Commission meetings.
"Our goal is to anticipate risks and address them before they become incidents," O'Donnell said in an email.
The sheriff's department operates the Real Time Operations Center, where analysts can connect to school cameras and other locations throughout the county in the event of an emergency.
"They use the most sophisticated intelligence tools to really connect the schools with the sheriff's department," Balbo said.
Schools throughout the county, such as the Gary Community School Corporation, have invested in technology to enhance public safety. Cliff Caldwell became the district's safety and security director in 2022; one of his first actions was to get rid of the metal detectors at each entrance and instead invest in a weapons detection system, which does the same job without the invasion of privacy. He had noticed that students who came into school appeared "stressed" while walking through the metal detectors.
"They were being searched and patted down like they were entering a jail facility," Caldwell said.
The weapons detection machines, introduced in 2023, allow students to walk through en masse without having to remove backpacks or bags. A security officer watches the software and stops a student for a secondary check if the system flags a certain part of their body or bag.
In March, a weapons response technology system was installed at West Side Leadership Academy. It detects the change in air pressure if a weapon is fired, which sends an alert to all security officers' cell phones. Caldwell said their hope is to install more throughout the district. The school also has a security room where administrators can congregate in the event of an emergency to examine video footage.
In addition to technology in the building, teachers and security personnel regularly scan social media for concerning posts regarding threats to others or themselves. They'll peruse apps ahead of certain events, like a major football game or dance, for any threats or fights. The 24 school security staff who work at schools throughout the district receive comprehensive training before they go on the job and attend monthly professional development sessions, Caldwell said.
"We invest into safety as much as we invest in academics," he said. "We want to make sure this is an environment where kids don't have to feel scared and they can focus solely on academics."
Indiana lawmakers have made changes throughout the last 20 years to enhance school safety. In 2025, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun established the Office of School Safety, responsible for maintaining protocols on emergency response plans, training school safety officers and overseeing grant funds. Officials announced Tuesday that schools in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties received a total of $3.3 million in funding for school safety programming.
However, Senate Bill 1, signed by Braun in April, will result in overall cuts to public education. Local districts are bracing for the loss of significant property tax revenue that could affect various operations, including school safety budgets. Some communities are asking residents to support referendums that can help supplement the lost revenue.
"Security programs, along with some teachers and transportation, are often funded through operational referendum dollars," O'Donnell said. "Hanover is currently asking voters to continue our existing referendum to ensure that safety, staffing and transportation remain intact. Without it, these areas face cuts that would affect not only schools but also property values across the community."
Indiana school safety laws mandate each county to have a safety commission, each school to have an internal school safety committee, allow schools to apply for grants for various school safety measures and require schools to enter into agreements with local community mental health centers to offer services to students.
Kissinger said the mental health piece is crucial for student success, and the responsibility is on staff, teachers, parents and students to create an in-school environment where students feel comfortable seeking help when they need it. He said he encourages his school resource officers to build relationships with students so they know they have someone at school who cares about them and wants them to feel safe.
"An SRO doesn't just stand around and eyeball everybody," Kissinger said. "If you don't give 700 different high fives or handshakes, you need to be out there some more."
A team effort
The security officers at West Side watched as a swarm of students exited the building Aug. 12, chattering away and laughing as they filmed TikTok videos on their cellphones. The security officer assigned to monitor the exit near the gymnasium laid eyes on a person having what appeared to be an intense conversation with another person. The officer recognized something wasn't right.
Caldwell said the security officers throughout the school district are trained to recognize characteristics of someone who is armed. They focus on movement patterns, facial expressions, hand movements and words.
"At that moment, her training kicked in," he said. "She immediately recognized the signs, focused on him and when she saw his shirt raise up to show his weapon, she radioed for assistance."
The individual allegedly tried to flee, but was apprehended after a team of school resource officers and security staff responded quickly to the parking lot area where he was located. Gary police officers who are trained as school resource officers roam the hallways during passing periods and monitor the outside of the building during dismissal.
De'Andre Hicks, 21, was charged with felony possession of a firearm on school property. Hicks told police he went to the school with the firearm to defend his sister, who had been in an altercation. He acknowledged what he did was "stupid," according to a probable cause affidavit.
Caldwell implored parents to consult him or other school safety personnel if they have questions, as well as talk to their children and other community members about how to promote school safety.
"I encourage the community at large to learn about school safety," Caldwell said. "Learn about what we do so we can help our community."