Missoula Set to Discuss School Saftety and Prevention Next Week

Next Monday through Wednesday, three separate committees will meet to help prevent a tragedy like the one that happened in Newtown, Connecticut from happening in Missoula.

Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent Alex Apostle says he is employing a "unique approach" to help the community talk about these issues. The process involves three separate committees each of which will tackle a particular subject. According to Apostle, the process developed from conversations he had with Missoula Police Chief Mark Muir and the CEO of St. Patrick hospital, Jeff Fee.

"We've been very fortunate up to this point that we have not had anything related to what happened in Connecticut," says Apostle. "But I wanted our school district to be preemptive in this regard and to involve our community in determining what we needed to do so that we would be prepared in any and all  circumstances."

The first committee to meet will be the Mental Health Safety and Security Committee, which meets Monday, Feb. 25, at 5:00 P.M. In the Business Building Board Room at 901 South Avenue West.

In the same place at the same time on both Feb. 26 and 27, the Public Safety Advisory Committee and the Facility Safety and Security Advisory Committee will meet on those respective dates.

Each session is expected to run two and a half hours and there will be ample opportunity for public comment. After all of the sessions, Apostle says the committees will perform an "informal gap analysis between what we have currently . . . and where we want to be."