CMS Reaffirms Commitment to Safety After Florida School Shooting

CHARLOTTE, NC — Deadly school shootings. It’s the new reality for schools across the country. And safety is priority number one.

“We have done all that we can to be prepared for that moment,” says Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Dr. Clayton Wilcox.

It’s a moment students, parents, teachers and schools hope will never come. But you must be as prepared as possible.

“Practiced lock down drills,” says Wilcox. “We’ve practiced active shooter drills. We continue to talk with our principals about what they might do should an event like this take place.”

The CMS superintendent once worked in Florida. Wednesday’s school shooting in Parkland, that left 17 dead, hits close to home.

“The superintendent of Broward County is a colleague and a friend,” says an emotional Wilcox. “And to watch him struggle last night with, you know, getting the right words out, spoke volumes, to me.”

Every CMS school undergoes a safe school audit twice a year. Auditors show up unannounced, to check cameras and panic alarms. They also test how teachers respond to a lock down.

“You think your kids are going to school,” says Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles. “They’re going to be safe. And something like this happens.”

Lyles says city council discussed school safety at a recent retreat.

The superintendent says school districts should ask state lawmakers for more security.

“Armed security officers,” says Wilcox. “I think that is an unfortunate reality of the 21st century. That we not only have to secure our facilities more adequately, but we also have to provide armed security.”

“I heard the school superintendent say that there were things that the state could do to help,” says Lyles. “And I’m going to support the superintendent.”

Republican state representative Larry Pittman has brought up the idea of training and arming North Carolina teachers. We reached out to the representative and his office for comment. We did not get a response.