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Yesterday, (Tuesday) the Cashton School District activated a standard Lock-out at both schools in response to an incident that was happening in Sparta, where officials were attempting to identify whether or not a student had carried a gun onto school property.

In the wake of Monday’s shooting at Waukesha, where an officer shot a 17-year old who pulled a gun at school, and a late morning officer involved school shooting Tuesday at Oshkosh, the need to take precautions has become standard procedure at Cashton and many other school districts.

Tuesday, Cashton School District Administrator Ryan Alderson said the safety response was simply a precaution because of events happening in a nearby community. In fact, he said, the school would follow the same precaution for anything in the region.

While there was no direct evidence of a threat to Cashton, Mr. Alderson pointed out that schools need to keep a barrier between what is unknown and students.

The school implements a Lock-out when things outside the school are not business as usual, Mr. Alderson said.

Inside it was pretty much business as usual, but parents and teachers were notified of the Lock-out.

“Parents (and teachers)have a right to know what’s going on,” he said.

Tuesday’s Lock-out limited school access from the outside more than normal, and kept students indoors for the day, including recesses and lunch.

The last time the school activated a Lock-out was in 2017, after a shooting at a rural Cashton dairy farm left authorities looking for the suspect.