{"id":50936,"date":"2025-10-08T12:48:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T12:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/2025\/10\/08\/a-conversation-on-school-church-security-with-ascension-catholic-academys-head-of-security\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T12:48:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T12:48:19","slug":"a-conversation-on-school-church-security-with-ascension-catholic-academys-head-of-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/2025\/10\/08\/a-conversation-on-school-church-security-with-ascension-catholic-academys-head-of-security\/","title":{"rendered":"A conversation on school, church security with Ascension Catholic Academy\u2019s head of security"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article Originally Published Here<\/a><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on Wednesday got a firsthand look at how other catholic schools have been handling security in the wake of the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

We met with the director of Safety and Security for Ascension Catholic Academy\u2019s four Twin Cities\u2019 schools as students at Ascension Catholic School finished their second day of school.<\/p>\n

Potential threats were top of Director of Safety and Security Jameson Ritter\u2019s mind long before it became a tragic reality just a few miles away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest failures is if we don\u2019t apply those lessons, because then what? Then we haven\u2019t learned for the next one,\u201d Ritter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job, in a lot of ways, is to wake up and think the worst of things, or be worried about things\u2026 In a lot of ways, I\u2019m okay with that. I feel like that\u2019s my role. That\u2019s my job. It\u2019s my background and training that allow me to do this. I\u2019m blessed to have had all of the experiences in the public and private sectors that allow me to have this perspective and lend my voice to this. So it\u2019s a burden I take knowingly, but yeah, it\u2019s certainly, it\u2019s a weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ritter made security changes at the four schools around the time he took the job about two years ago.<\/p>\n

Now, all staff have radios, and no one makes it through the school\u2019s locked double doors without clearance through a digital visitor management system, including Ritter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows that we\u2019re embracing this, that we\u2019re reinforcing that even people who know me aren\u2019t going to let me in the building without signing in,\u201d Ritter said.<\/p>\n

Staff who come in early or stay late also have these FOBs, which are capable of calling 911 dispatch with a single click. Everyone also has a pocket-sized card detailing the school\u2019s Standard Response Protocol on hand at all times.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery simple terminology, very simple direction. So it\u2019s not, \u2018I gotta open a binder and find the section on lockdowns.\u2019 It\u2019s \u2018Locks, Lights, Get Out of Sight.\u2019 It\u2019s very basic, and so, we reinforce that both through training, and then we\u2019ll bring those cards out and say, \u2018Do we have any new staff here?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ritter keeps his handy on his lanyard. He said that type of simplicity and constant reinforcement through training is key to safety.<\/p>\n

As we stood next to young students\u2019 handwritten notes to their peers at Annunciation, the biggest possible gap on Ritter\u2019s mind was the roughly 20 yards between the school and the church.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really a moment where we kind of sit around a table and start asking those tough questions, are there things that we could be doing better in light of what we might be learning from tragedy and going from there?\u201d Ritter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may not find any particular changes are needed, but we\u2019re definitely asking the question. We\u2019re going to be looking internally to make sure that we\u2019re not missing anything that might be obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post A conversation on school, church security with Ascension Catholic Academy\u2019s head of security<\/a> appeared first on Security Guard Services Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

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Article Originally Published Here 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on Wednesday got a firsthand look at how other catholic schools have been handling security in the wake of the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church. We met with the director of Safety and Security for Ascension Catholic Academy\u2019s four Twin Cities\u2019 schools as students at Ascension Catholic School finished their second day of school. Potential threats were top of Director of Safety and Security Jameson Ritter\u2019s mind long before it became a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security-guard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.excelmedias.com\/Security\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}