Local parents shocked by school shooting in Connecticut

Parents of young children are shocked to hear the news of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

While leaving a school play at Legacy Elementary School in Bossier Parish, many of them said they feel their child's school is safe.

Bossier Parish deputies and Bossier Parish police officers initiated extra patrols around area schools Friday.

"It's just a proactive visibility factor for us as law enforcement to be present to be seen, to give that mindset that all is well in this particular campus, " said Capt. Danny Dison, Director of Security for Bossier Parish Schools.  

Dison said all 34 schools have lockdown drills twice a year, and all teachers are equipped with an emergency preparedness manual. Also, classroom and outside doors to schools are locked during the day.

If an intruder enters a school, teachers are supposed to lock the classroom door, tell students to get away from the windows and doors, turn off the light, and then place an "all clear" sign under the door to let authorities know their room is safe.

"There's no ways to guarantee our schools are 100 percent safe given the environment we live in," said Capt. Dison.  "We do have things in place to insure safety of kids. "

Thirteen school resource officers work in the middle and high schools in Bossier Parish. Dison said there have been talks of adding them to the elementary schools, but funding is an issue.

For now, elementary school principals are equipped with two way radios, which they can use to contact authorities if there is an emergency.