Taft Education Center Gets Security Updates Following Dec. 8 Shooting

School officials say security has been increased at , where last month .

The Dec. 8 incident , which houses a variety of alternative education programs.

Security cameras, increased police presence

Security improvements include security cameras, increased police presence at dismissal times and reinforcing staff protocols and procedures, Gary Sophiea, Ferndale Schools director of operations, told the Board of Education at its Jan. 18 meeting.

Ferndale Police Lt. William Wilson said police have been keeping up a strong presence at the facility.

"We always try and keep a pretty good presence there anyway when they're getting out," he said. "That's just something we hit hard anyway."

Review of emergency processes began immediately

Stephanie Hall, community relations director for Ferndale Public Schools, said security cameras will be installed any day now inside and outside the school. She said cameras were being planned even before the incident occurred.

Although the school board was , Hall said review of the incident began within "the next 24 hours" and is part of the standard protocol following an emergency situation.

"We had an incident that called on all of us to use all of our emergency response processes and whenever you do something like that you revisit it and you refresh and update," Hall said.

'No one will be too busy to be outside'

Hall said increased police patrols have already started and policies and procedures have been reinforced with staff. This included reminding staff that the priority at dismissal time is for them to be outside to monitor the outside of the school.

"No one will be too busy to be outside," she said.

Hall said staff did an "excellent job" handling the Dec. 8 incident.

"We have over the years in our district had training on emergency response. When you have a real emergency to respond to it calls on you to be able to pull out those skills that you've trained for at a moment's notice," she said. "We were able to do that."

The final step in any incident, Hall said, is to evaluate the response.

"It makes us stronger and better equipped for the future," she said.