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Roanoke city schools featured in PBS special
The Roanoke system was filmed for a special created in response to the Newtown school shootings.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Roanoke City Public Schools will appear tonight in a PBS special that’s part of the network’s “After Newtown” programming airing this week.
The school system and Superintendent Rita Bishop will appear in the piece “The Path to Violence,” school system spokesman Justin McLeod said in an email. The segment will examine strategies that prevent school attacks, according to the PBS website.
PBS has devoted significant programming this week to covering the aftermath of the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., where on Dec. 14 Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School before turning a gun on himself.
The Roanoke school system was filmed for the piece last month when national school safety expert Ken Trump was re-evaluating the system’s security measures. At that time, a documentary crew was following Trump, and he was interviewed.
McLeod said Bishop was interviewed as part of the PBS documentary and will appear in the same segment as Trump. He said the piece also will include a tour and inspection Trump did at Roanoke Academy.
“The producer says Roanoke City is highlighted as a district that is on the ball when it comes to school security,” McLeod said in an email.
Trump first worked with Roanoke schools in 2009. Bishop asked him to re-evaluate the system this year. She has said the re-evaluation wasn’t linked to any recent school violence and was talked about prior to Sandy Hook, but she did note that incident expedited the process.
During Trump’s visit last month, he talked to school personnel and examined security tools, including conducting site visits of schools. He said then that he was pleased with the safeguards the system had in place.
“The Path to Violence” airs at 10 p.m. tonight on PBS.