Haskell County Schools Each Receive Ballistic Shields To Protect Students

People in Haskell County donated $18,000 to buy a ballistic shield for every campus in the county, to help protect students if there's ever an active shooter. 

They bought the shields from a non-profit called Stand First. 

 "Our towns here are rural, it takes a while for some of the police to get there, so this gives them just a little bit of extra protection and we are glad to be able to do that," said Mike Butler with the Jerry Jackson Foundation. 

The Jerry Jackson Foundation donated the money for the shields. Jackson was a banker who created the foundation to help the people of Haskell County.

Haskell County Sheriff Tim Turner asked the foundation for the money. Sheriff Turner says administrators on each campus will be trained on how to use the shields. 

"Making sure that our students are safe, making sure our parents understand that we as law enforcement have the backs of our children, and the safety of our children," he said. 

The shields were purchased from the Stand First Foundation, created by Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton.

"A community of 12,000 people is probably going to be one of the most well-equipped communities, that we know of in this part of the world," Walton said. 

Turner says this donation means a lot to him and he's proud of the community for putting the safety of their kids first. 

"If it saves one life, it's done its job, if it saves one student, one teacher, one staff member, one parent going to get their kid from school, then we've done our job," he said. 

Walton says Stand First not only hopes to donate the shields to law enforcement in Oklahoma but also to agencies across the country.