Maine’s education commissioner is urging schools to immediately beef up security and emphasize safety.

Less than two weeks after a Sun Journal investigation found gaping holes in school security and just a day after Education Commissioner Susan Gendron told a security task force that many Maine schools aren’t prepared for a crisis, Gendron sent a letter to all superintendents saying they should follow the security guidelines recently outlined by her department and the Maine Emergency Management Agency. Those guidelines include:

• Establish a single entry for each school and limit the number of people who have a key.

• Use an ID system appropriate to the school.

• Require some form of a visitor’s pass.

• Train staff to address the presence of strangers who don’t have a pass.

“The Sun Journal’s visit to lots of schools raises questions in my mind and in the minds, I’m sure, of others,” Gendron said. “Are we being as diligent as we need to be?”

In October, the Sun Journal sent 14 reporters to 37 schools throughout Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties, testing school security and asking for a copy of each building’s crisis response plan. The results of the investigation were published Nov. 5.

In many instances, reporters found lax staff, open side and back doors and poorly followed security procedures. In half the schools, reporters were able to wander around for at least 10 minutes before they were confronted. In about a quarter of schools, they were never challenged at all.

While all 37 schools told reporters that they had crisis response plans as required by state law, several refused to release them.

Earlier this week, Gendron told a state homeland security task force that her department had asked all Maine schools about their crisis response plans. A majority failed to respond to the department’s survey. And of the 44 percent that did respond, only 30 percent said they had a plan.

Gendron said she will not approve schools – and will not hand over state money – if school officials do not create crisis response plans.

To help, the education department, MEMA and the State Fire Marshal’s Office will hold a training session on Nov. 28 for 120 school personnel, police and emergency workers. The goal: get schools to become proactive, not just reactive, when it comes to a crisis.

“It’s a different drumbeat,” said Harvey Boatman, who deals with school security for the education department.

The session will teach officials to consider all hazards unique to their schools, such as floods if they’re on a flood plain or chemical spills if they’re near a highway. It will also teach them how to lower risk, prevent dangerous situations, respond to an emergency and recover from a crisis. School culture and its link to safety will also be discussed.

State education officials say this month’s training session will be one of many.

“I don’t think you’re ever done with this anymore,” Boatman said.