Regina schools have emergency plans.

The horrifying school shooting in Newtown, Conn., on Friday may have left some Regina parents thinking about emergency procedures in place at their own child’s school.

Both the Regina public and separate school divisions have a range of emergency plans in place, addressing everything from a fire to an incident like a gunman or bomb threat.

“All staff and students regularly practise these drills ... so they’re prepared for any emergency situation.” said Terry Lazarou, spokesman for Regina Public Schools.

Those drills are executed in a similar fashion to a fire drill, he said, and the division works closely with police to try and “anticipate critical incidents before they happen.”

“We have resource officers with every school and that ensures police are familiar with schools,” Lazarou said.

It’s a similar story within the separate school division.

Spokesman Noah Wernikowski said teachers and students know the emergency procedures and are encouraged to practise them regularly.

When it comes to communication with parents, Wernikowski said each school had the ability to get in touch with them en masse, via email or telephone.

“It depends on the scope of the emergency as to how exactly it would happen, but it is site specific,” he said.

Counselling is also available to staff and students after any event in either school division.

“At the end of the day, if they need those supports for something that happens locally or somewhere else, they have access to counselling if they feel they need it,” Lazarou said.