HALL COUNTY, Ga. — It’s back to school on Friday morning for nine more north Georgia school districts.
Thousands of students are ready for the first day of school in the following districts: Carroll County, Dawson County, Gilmer County, Habersham County, Hall County, Madison County, Towns County, Troup County and White County.
Join Fred Blankenship, Lori Wilson, Brian Monahan, Mike Shields and our reporters spread out across the metro as they prepare you for the first day. Watch Channel 2 Action News This Morning from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.
[SPECIAL SECTION: Back 2 School in North Georgia and Metro Atlanta]
In schools across Georgia, there’s a focus on school safety with a new state low now in effect.
Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach got a chance to see how officers, deputies and SROs in Hall County practice this summer during active shooter training on different situations and different responses.
“There’s gunfire, a lot of loud noise and chaos going on when they come in here…and great thing is get to expose these officers to it ahead of time so they know how to manage it and have a plan when they come through the door,” a school resource officer said.
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Districts are focused on security with the new “Safe Schools Act” that signed into law earlier this year. The law requires all public schools to conduct an active shooter drill involving teachers and students by Oct. 1 each year. Parents can opt their children out.
Not only is Hall County focused on physical safety, but also the emotional health of students as well. The district says it will be more proactive to address any emotional and mental health issues that could lead to violence.
“But the real opportunity for safe schools is to have emotionally healthy students that are attending your schools,” Hall County Superintendent William Schofield said.
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