‘Go Buckets’ for Starlight School in case of an active shooter or intruder

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- New safety measures are being implemented to a local school with the help of a hardware company.

Director of Administrative Services Jordan Searls for the Muskingum County Board of Developmental Disabilities Starlight Program said they are in the process up stepping up the safety for Starlight School. He said there will be buckets full of supplies, such as a hammer, to help defend students and employees in case of an active shooter or intruder.

“We’re going to add some other things to the bucket. Extension cord, a decent size rock, things that will be easily accessible to our staff in the case that there’s an emergency. We are practicing drills where we lock down, we run, hide, fight, if we do have to fight, these buckets are there to help us. If you’re in that situation, you have something in there that you can use to protect yourself and these kids or adults that are with you,” said Searls.

The buckets filled with the supplies are called ‘Go Buckets.’ Searls said employees were already being trained and looking to add the buckets, but the school shooting in Parkland, Florida expedited the process.

“We’ve got staff who had training years ago, and they brought it to our attention that they would like to get retrained and refreshed on these (safety) concepts. We were actually preparing to get these ‘Go Buckets’ and practice drills and learn this ALICE training before the shooting in Florida, but now that that’s happened we are pushing this forward,” said Searls.

Searls said using guns was not an option for Starlight School. 50 buckets and 50 hammers were donated by the Lowes in Zanesville.