A local veteran addressed the Brighton school board Monday night, saying he was concerned that an incident such as the one at a Florida high school that resulted in the deaths of 17 people could happen in Brighton. The man, Max Bishop, said he has a granddaughter who attends a Brighton school, and that greatly increases his concern.

The board did not immediately respond to his comments since it does not normally do so at call-to-the-public. But after the meeting WHMI asked Superintendent Greg Gray about protocols in place to deal with violent situations in the Brighton Area Schools where there is the potential for injury or loss of life. Gray says they have crisis plans and a lot of pieces in place in relation to these types of events and they practice all the time. He says they don’t share crisis plans because then they can become ineffective but they do practice them as an administrative team and as groups in the district. Gray it's a day no one ever wants to work through but they are trying be as prepared as they can.

In the Feb. 14 incident at a high school in Parkland, Florida, 17 students and adults were killed by a 19-year-old former student wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic weapon. Mass school shootings in recent years have changed how schools deal with gun violence. In 1999, two teens went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 people before committing suicide. Since that time, 32 states have passed laws requiring schools to conduct lockdown drills to keep students safe from intruders.

Since an incident in 2012 in which 20 children were killed in Newtown, Connecticut, six states require "active shooter" drills each year. In such scenarios, the training must be tailored to respond to an armed gunman out to kill. And several states require shooting simulations with police officers.(TT)