Lee's Summit and LSR7 outline multiagency school-safety partnership, trainings and exercises
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Summary
City and school district officials described a multiagency approach to school safety that emphasizes prevention, preparedness, coordinated response and recovery.
Officials from the City of Lee's Summit and the LSR7 school district told a joint session that ongoing, structured collaboration underpins the district’s safety work.
"Our conversations focus on many details, but in large part, it's in one of these five areas or collective areas together: prevention and mitigation, preparation, response, recovery, communication," said Steve Shelton, associate superintendent of operations for LSR7, summarizing the district’s planning framework.
Presenters named recurring elements of the partnership: a monthly multiagency safety meeting that includes district operations and city public safety staff; school resource officers stationed in every middle and high school; impact officers in elementary schools; pre-year site inspections and code reviews by fire officials; and joint training exercises such as a reunification rehearsal and a bleacher-collapse exercise. Captain Steven Dukes of the Lee's Summit Police Department and Assistant Chief Ben Hicks of Lee's Summit Fire described joint use of redesigned school facilities for tactical familiarization and patrol training.
Shelton noted the district and city run after-action reviews and refine plans based on lessons learned. He said the district is piloting wearable devices in two buildings and is tracking intelligence from recent national incidents to adjust protocols. Dukes described a recent "swatting" incident that benefited from officers’ familiarity with school layouts, saying that prior training and site knowledge helped mitigate the threat.
Officials also described regional cooperation: invitations to neighboring jurisdictions for large multiagency exercises, participation by smaller departments when resources allow, and cooperation on a regional hazard-mitigation plan prepared with the Mid-America Regional Council.
The presentation listed additional initiatives that cross education and workforce development, including a firefighter academy in partnership with a local technology provider and a youth court program that uses students as peer jurors as an alternative to juvenile court. Officials said they plan another large-scale multiagency exercise in February 2026 to test command, logistics and planning units across agencies.
No formal action or vote was taken during the presentation portion; the session was convened as a work session to share practices and build relationships between the city and the school board.
