School safety is a topic that has been at the top of everyone's mind for the past several weeks. Schools across the country are bringing people together to try to figure out what can be done now.

"Scared," said Strasburg Resident Glenn Jackson. "Scared. I mean those are my life right there."

Glenn Jackson has three kids. His youngest two are twins and go to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Strasburg.

"It's kind of unfortunate that a very tragic event had to kind of spark this," said Jackson.

Jackson was one of about 150 people who came out to Signal Knob Middle School in Strasburg Tuesday night. The purpose was to find out what needs to be done and what can be done to keep students safe.

"It's proactive which is good," said Jackson. "It's getting the community involved which we need. It's addressing some security measures that the schools have needed for quite a long time."

Surveillance cameras, metal detectors, wire fences and police officers are just some of the many ideas that were tossed around. While Superintendent Keith Rowland and Sheriff Tim Carter say these all sound great, it all comes back to the bottom line, which is money.

"It is something that's critical not only critical for us operationally, but critical for us to obtain the funding for, and we're proceeding ahead with that," said Shenandoah County Sheriff Tim Carter.

What are we going to do right now? That's the question many parents want to know the answer to.

"I tried to explain in there that I don't have the resources to put an SRO full-time in every school, but I do have assistance from town police departments, the Virginia State Police and my own staff that we're doing the best we can to try to cover those schools as best we can," said Carter.

Carter says they have a plan in place, but hope parents such as Glenn Jackson will help make it even better.

"This is a good start," said Jackson. "And it's just that. It's just a start. We've got a long way to go."

Currently, Shenandoah County Public Schools have two lock down drills a year. Rowland says that's going to double.

There's also a resource officers in every school, but that's only temporary. The superintendent says he needs parents to stand up and say to leaders who handle budgets, we want Shenandoah County Schools to be safe and this is how much it will cost to make sure they are.

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