Logan County Schools Superintendent Paul Mullins and Sheriff Wallace Whittaker Thursday issued the following joint statement:
“Like every American, everyone in Logan County is heartbroken by the events that occurred in Parkland, Florida earlier this week and closer to home, in Marshall County, Kentucky, on January 23.
We recognize that such a tragic incident could happen anywhere – in any workplace, any store or any restaurant in the country – but we also recognize that schools are particularly vulnerable and are increasingly becoming targets of such horrible acts.
The Logan County Schools and Logan County Sheriff’s Office share a commitment to ensure that our schools are the safest places in our community. This is our highest priority. No child should have to go to school in fear, and every parent should have a reasonable expectation that his or her child will come home at the end of the day. Our resolve is stronger today than ever before.
For years, the Logan County Schools and Logan County Sheriff’s Office have partnered to safeguard our schools. School resource officers are assigned full-time to several schools, and can respond to any school in the district within a matter of minutes. All faculty, staff, and students practice lock-down drills on a regular schedule so that everyone knows what to do in the event of an incident. School doors are locked during the day, and access to each building is controlled by school staff who are required to visually identify every visitor before allowing admission.
Even with these pro-active measures in place, we remain vigilant and continue our work to identify and implement tools and strategies to make our schools safer, minimize their appeal as potential targets, and – ultimately – keep our children safe.
In addition, we need our entire community to help us identify those who might threaten or bring harm to our students. Every student, parent, grandparent, and community member must be part of the solution. We implore every member of our community to speak up if they suspect for any reason that someone may be contemplating such a heinous act as attacking any of our schools.
Please call the Logan County Dispatch Center immediately at 270-726-4911 to report anything suspicious, whether it’s a comment or post on social media, a conversation overheard, your child’s remark at the dinner table about something another student said at school, or anything else that gives you pause. When in doubt, please call us! The Logan County Sheriff’s Office will work with the Logan County Schools and any other law enforcement agencies necessary to identify and investigate any threat, and we will take every legal action available to prevent anyone from acting on a threat.