The Clinton Public School District held an active shooter drill Monday — a drill planned before the weekend that left 31 dead in two separate mass shootings.
Like Clinton, all of the state's 140 school districts this year are being required to hold such drills under the new Mississippi School Safety Act.
The act mandates districts have active shooter drills twice a year, within the first 60 days of each semester. It does not allow them the option to opt out.
Bill Welch, school safety director for the Mississippi Department of Education, said the districts are participating in the drills to bring awareness and follow the law.
"In light of the events that we've seen in the last week, I think we have to try to do something, maybe this is a just start...we can't just sit back and do nothing," Welch said.
"Safety is a priority so if they take these drills seriously then, hopefully, in an event, they will remember what those drills are like and they will act on it."