The tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut stole 26 lives and again opened the door on conversations about gun control and mental health.

But another topic that has emerged is security in schools, and whether we are doing enough to keep children safe. Following the shooting, the National Rifle Association advocated arming teachers and stationing armed guards in schools. 

Muskego High School principal Ryan Oertel said the high school "takes a serious and proactive approach to school safety; it is our top priority." He explained that the administrative team, School Resource Officer (SRO), and school and district emergency response teams continue to revisit safety and security protocols and measures and refine accordingly.  

Patch surveyed Milwaukee area school districts on their schools' security practices. Muskego-Norway was among the 16 districts that responded to the survey are. Cudahy, Nicolet High School, Glendale-River Hills/Mapledale-Indian Hill, Greendale, Shorewood, Oak Creek-Franklin, Menomonee Falls, Mequon-Theinsville, Racine Unified School District, Whitefish Bay, Whitnall School District, Port Washington-Saukville School District, Elmbrook School District, the School District of Waukesha and Franklin School District also provided their feedback.

Of those 16, seven said they had some sort of security staff at the school, ranging in description from supervisory aids to liasion officers and district employees serving as secuirty aids. At Shorewood High, campus security is available.

Muskego schools have closed-circuit TV monitoring systems already in place along with 13 other districts. The Menomonee Falls School District was the only one who responded that the district does not have closed circuit montitoring, but said they are nailing down a final price before installing a system. Waukesha did not respond to that question.

All districts said they participate in regular lockdown drills with their students, and most lock all doors to the school during class hours; some districts said a main entrance is often left unlocked.

Wisconsin has no official guidelines for security in schools, said Peter Pochowski, executive director of the Wisconsin School Safety Coordinators Association, but law requires they have a crisis plan in place and that they perform at least two emergency drills each year.

Pochowski said some districts seem to feel they don't need to be prepared, because they don't think something like the Sandy Hook shooting could happen. 

"The first thing is to understand that school-type shooting incidents can happen anywhere," he said. 

He recommends districts create crisis management teams that work together to develop the crisis plan and prioritize security needs.

"It's simple but not easy," he said. 

Find out more about a particular district, or compare a few by using the above database. You can select multiple districts in the list to compare several districts on the same page. The database may not be viewable on mobile devices.