KOSCIUSKO — Local school officials said meeting were held this week with administrators to review security plans for their districts in the wake of the deadly school shooting.

In the small town of Newtown, Conn., a man killed 26 people, mostly young children, on Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday.

Kosciusko City Schools Superintendent Dr. Tony McGee said visitors’ classroom access will be limited.

Parents or visitors will have to check in at the office and children will be retrieved  and brought to the office, McGee said.

McGee reviewed security plans and check entrances and exits with administrators Monday.

Each school is mandated to have a security plan in place and McGee said administrators and teachers are trained on how to handle a violent situation.

Before being out of the Christmas holidays, McGee said security procedures would be reviewed by faculty.

“It’s one of those things you try to prevent before something happens,” McGee said.

McGee added they have also worked with the  Kosciusko Police Department and that the officers had trained in the schools.

“School is still a very safe place,” McGee said.

Attala County School District Superintendent Bryan Weaver said meetings will be held this week to review security plans with administrators as well.

The recently purchased security camera system for the district has already been placed at Greenlee and he expected that cameras would be installed at Long Creek Elementary School next.

At the first of the year, Weaver said he hopes to work with the Attala County Sheriff’s Department about working on regular drills at the schools.

“Our area has been very blessed and we hope that it continues to be that way,” Weaver said.

Elsewhere in central Mississippi, Pearl authorities said there was increase of a police presence this week.

Pearl High School was the site of the 1997 shooting rampage.

"We feel that our past experiences have made us keenly aware of the measures that should be taken," Pearl School District Superintendent Raymond Morgigno said Monday in an email.

Luke Woodham, now serving three life sentences, killed two students and injured seven others at Pearl High School on Oct. 1, 1997. He had stabbed his mother to death that morning.

Woodham's rampage was stopped by an assistant principal who retrieved a .45-caliber automatic pistol from his truck, forced Woodham to the ground and held him at gunpoint until police arrived.

Morgigno said the Pearl district has a detailed security plan that's evaluated annually, but since the shooting in Connecticut, officials "have been in contact with local law enforcement agencies and first responders to review this plan and to take additional steps."

"There will be an increased police presence at each campus and in the surrounding areas," Morgigno said.

He said security measures already in place include drills for crisis situations, "including the presence of an intruder on campus," and that there are school resource officers on campuses across the district.

The schools also have secure reception areas, and Morgigno said counselors are available.

"Even though 1997 is forever a part of our district and community's history, the majority of the students in our classrooms today have very little direct link to or even knowledge of those events," he said. "To place any emphasis on this part of our past would be inappropriate and not in our students' best interest. Therefore, we choose to be vigilant in attending to the needs of the individual students."

In south Mississippi, Harrison County Superintendent Henry Arledge said he hopes to get more school resource officers. The district has 15 officers and 21 schools.

He also said the school has detailed security policies and procedures that will be studied to see how they can be improved.

He said school officials will be available to talk to any student with concerns in the wake of the Connecticut shooting.

"Our prayers and thoughts are with that school district," Arledge said. "It could have been anywhere."

Milton Kuykendall, the superintendent of the Desoto County School District, said he called for an evaluation of his schools' security policies and procedures immediately after the shootings in Connecticut.

Kuykendall said the district evaluates the schools' security every year but that he decided to start that process now rather than later.

"We're going to do whatever it takes to keep our students safe," he said.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.