Thursday, Emergency leaders from several local counties, along with law-enforcement officers and school leaders, took part in a school crisis training seminar.
It comes in the wake of a school shooting in Nashville and a swatting hoax carried out across Pennsylvania.
Educators say those events bring safety to the forefront. 
 
"The increasing amounts of these incidents and the media coverage I think scares all of us," said Dr. Ken Berlin, superintendent of Wattsburg Area School District. "Every time it happens, it's a reminder of the awesome responsibility we have to keep kids safe every day."
Much of that safety comes down to planning, so today's training focused on developing emergency procedures and making sure every responding agency has the information it needs. 
"We have the opportunity to have conversations with the educators and those emergency services about how we enhance our capabilities as a community to be able to deal with emergencies," said Scott Lowry, one of the presenters from the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium. 
Good plans, experts say, help maintain calmness in chaos.
When someone reports a shooting, details are often vague. Proper procedure helps streamline a prompt, effective response.
"There is always a scramble upfront to try to decipher incoming information, make sense of everything and then all of the different agencies and organizations that need to come together and jointly respond to something like that," said Jon McEnroe of the Erie County Department of Public Safety.
It's a lot of work, developing plans schools hope never to use. 
But a few days of training could save lives in an emergency. 
"The better we train, the better we have the traction for being able to respond to something with that intuitive response effort," said Dan Loewenheim of Erie County's Department of Public Safety.
Erie County is developing a rapid notification system for emergencies like school shootings. With this technology, if a shooting is reported, emergency leaders can contact school officials all over the county, keep them up-to-date on the situation and making sure they're aware that a school is under attack.