ESSEX, Vt. -
After the recent gun violence around the country parents have a lot of questions on how safe their kids schools are and after an open dialog tonight at Essex High School some say they have their answers.
"With everything you heard about in Sandy Hook, you just picture your child in that situation and its horrific," said parent Jen Paradee.
Paradee is a parent of a 5 and 3 year old. This is her first year sending a child to school and she can't help but have questions.
"I wanted to know about background checks, I wanted to know about what they do in case of emergency at school?" asked Paradee.
School officials hope to answer those questions and more in a first ever community and school safety dialogue night.
"We can be sharing things that are going on relative to safety and hear some things from folks on their ideas on safety," said Superintendent of Chittenden Central Schools, Michael Deweese.
Deweese says the idea stems from gun violence across the country including the Sandy Hook shootings in December, "We get a sense that nationally as well as locally that it is just on folks minds."
And Essex Police Chief, Brad Larose agrees, "That's really the catalyst behind it tonight, we know there are concerns, naturally there's bound to be concerns. We'll address the concerns the best we can and build on the collaboration of others."
And the communication between parents and the school is already easing Paradee's mind, "I'm feeling so much more relieved, and feeling very safe in sending my child to school every day."
Tuesday's meeting was sponsored by the school public safety committee which is made of school leaders, first responders, and several community organizations.
