Last week’s school shooting in Connecticut has prompted local school officials to reassure parents of their children’s safety and to pay extra attention to building safety procedures.

Jim Rollins, superintendent of Springdale schools, released a statement Monday saying student safety is the district’s first concern. Each of the district’s 27 schools has procedures in place to deal with emergencies should they arise, he said.

Rollins also recorded a video statement Monday for school staff members, intended to help calm their nerves.

“Many of you, each of you in your own way, contribute every day to help making our schools the safe place for our kids,” Rollins said in the video. “I want to encourage you to continue to do that great work. I want to encourage you to take the time to make sure each and every child understands you care deeply about them, not just as learners but as individuals.”

Fayetteville Superintendent Vicki Thomas released a two-page statement Sunday to parents and guardians who might have been concerned about the safety of their children.

“The Fayetteville Public Schools hold the safety of your children and our staff as the top priority,” Thomas wrote.

Springdale has a district safety team that meets quarterly. Building safety teams meet monthly, Rollins said.

School and police officials are set to meet Thursday to discuss safety-related matters, Springdale police spokesman Derek Hudson said. The police occasionally evaluate the schools from a safety perspective.

“We’re going to talk about those evaluations for each of the schools in the district,” Hudson said. “We’re also going to talk about different plans and what other schools are doing.”

Springdale police have six officers assigned to the schools. They spend most of their time at the high schools and junior highs. Patrol officers work each of the school zones in the early mornings and afternoons when school is starting and ending.

“What we’ve really been encouraging (officers) to do is get out of their cars and walk through the schools, not only to be seen, but to get an idea of the layout of the schools,” Hudson said.

This week, the Springdale police are “really stepping up” what they’re doing with patrols, Hudson said.

In addition to resource officers at Fayetteville High School and Ramay and Woodland junior high schools, Fayetteville police have added additional officers for security at 11 other campuses in the district, said Police Sgt. Craig Stout, spokesman for the Fayetteville Police Department.

The district will pick up the tab for the four additional officers who are divided among the other schools, at the district’s request, Stout said Tuesday. The officers are working on their days off.

The additional duties will be carried out this week, he said. Fayetteville schools dismiss Thursday afternoon for a two-week winter break.

In her statement, Thomas listed key points about the crisis action plans at each building, including steps to be taken by principals, assistant principals and teachers and also provided nine tips on what parents can do to help their children through the difficult time. The tips were provided by the National Association of School Psychologists.

Each campus has a lockdown and evacuation plan specifically designed for their building. Those plans have been coordinated with and approved by the Fayetteville Police Department, Thomas said in the memo.

The opening of schools on Monday appeared as a normal day of school, said Alan Wilbourn, public information officer.

Karen Bley, a counselor at Leverett Elementary School in Fayetteville, didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary among students on Monday.

“Nobody called a student to my attention,” Bley said.

The most tangible difference is that front doors to schools are locked. All other doors at a school are supposed to be locked.

“There has been positive feedback on that,” Bley said.

At Springdale’s Parson Hills Elementary School, one class of fifth-graders struggled to come to grips with Friday’s tragedy, Principal Debbie Hardwick-Smith said. The teacher called for the principal’s help Monday, saying her students just couldn’t get past their concerns.

“We talked to them at great length about the safety features in our school,” Hardwick-Smith said. “We went over the drills we have. The kids would say, ‘what if, what if.’ And I said, you know, we could ‘what if’ all day.”

She said she told the students she carries a walkie-talkie, that main office staff are continually attentive to who comes in the building, and that the students are surrounded by adults who care for them. When their classroom discussion was over, the students erupted in applause, Hardwick-Smith said.

She said she also had a conversation Tuesday with a Marshallese father who said the Marshallese community was very scared.

“He said they had a big discussion Sunday about whether they wanted their kids to go back to school,” Hardwick-Smith said.

After a long discussion with him, she said, she felt as though she had reassured the man his children would be safe in school.

Rollins, the Springdale superintendent, said the district will continue to revisit its safety plans and consider additional safety steps that can be taken.

“It’s our challenge to look at every new initiative,” he said. “I just think whatever options are available to us, we’ve got to examine them in a thoughtful way.”

He also mentioned existing programs like Watch DOGS, which invites fathers to spend time working at their children’s schools. The program, which began in Springdale in 1998 in response to a school shooting in Jonesboro, not only provides children additional male role models, but also provides schools an extra set of eyes for security purposes.