Jefferson City Public Schools continue to take the right steps toward student safety.
On Tuesday, teachers and staff at Thorpe Gordon Elementary School became the students as local police officers came to the school to teach how the teachers should react if a shooter enters the school.
"Don't just lay there. Do something," said Jefferson City Police Department officer Chris Gosche, who is a school resource officer for the district.
The training emphasizes the ALICE approach - alert, lock down, inform, counter, evacuate.
If you can evacuate, that's preferable. But as a last resort, "counter." That means to fight back with any means possible, even throwing handy items at the shooter to throw off his concentration or aim.
Thorpe Gordon Principal Christopher Schmitz said the school has response plans in place, but he acknowledged no plan is perfect.
Officer David Mays recommended teachers and staff not worry, but to think from time to time about how they would handle certain situations.
The ALICE training is just the latest in a series of discussions and security improvements that are cooperatively being done by schools, law enforcement and the community.
In the wake of school shootings in other parts of the country, some area schools have discussed the possibility of arming teachers.
We said earlier this year that, while well-intended, we believe that could cause more problems than it solves.
Teachers have their hands full teaching, and shouldn't have the added responsibility of safely keeping a loaded firearm in the classroom.
We commend local schools and law enforcement for continuing to make strides in school safety without giving in to knee-jerk reactions that could, ultimately, be more harmful to students.