WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) – Thousands of Wake County students will soon be returning to school for the regular school year. On Wednesday, district safety officials, school principals and school safety officers met to discuss and collaborate on ways to keep students safe.

It is part of the annual School Resource Summit, which brings together all stakeholders to focus on student safety.

“I’m really excited about this. We have a mentoring session that essentially strengthens the SRO’s relationship with the principal,” said Kendrick Scott, Wake County Schools’ director of safety.

Scott said this year marks the 10th year of the SRO Summit. The all-day event includes sessions on new safety features the district is implementing this school year. The district has implemented the new reporting app, Say Something Anonymous, and the RAVE Panic app specifically for educators and administrators.

The participants took part in an exercise on reunifying parents in an emergency.

“We understand that they want their children back if there is an incident at school. We need to manage this influx well so that everything runs smoothly and does not cause further trauma for our students, staff and parents,” Scott continued.

Scott said it takes more than SROs to keep children safe. Everyone does their part. “It’s about physical safety. It’s about behavior change within the district toward our students. It’s about our staff supervision plans and our SROs. So this is just one part of a very comprehensive approach to keeping all of our students safe,” Scott explained.

“That’s the whole purpose of having SROs in schools, you know, to build those relationships beforehand. That way, students feel comfortable talking to officers at school. Those students don’t see the SRO as an officer,” said Holly Springs police sergeant Tom Brienzi, who also serves as supervisor of security at the school.

Another challenge is social media incidents that reach campus, Brienzi said.

“Kids are using electronic devices and may say or do things that are not necessarily appropriate in a school environment. Historically, that’s the hardest thing to manage. And we’re talking about that more and more,” Brienzi said.

Wake County partners with 14 law enforcement agencies to serve as liaison officers for middle and high school students throughout the county.