A speakers' forum ended with a moment of silence Thursday.
The Cole County Democratic Club hosted a forum for Jefferson City Public Schools Board of Education candidates at the banquet room of Bones Restaurant and Lounge, but the mass shooting at a Florida high school the day before that left 17 dead and 15 wounded was on everyone's mind in addition to local issues.
The Miami Herald reported those lives lost make the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the third-deadliest school shooting in American history.
About two dozen people attended the forum that featured three of the four candidates running for the two available seats on the JCPS school board - incumbents Pam Murray and Michael Couty, and newcomer Ken Enloe. The fourth and newcomer candidate Lindsey Rowden was not able to attend.
Audience members wrote in questions on notecards for candidates to answer in about a minute, and in the aftermath of the Florida shooting, school security was the basis for a couple inquiries.
One question for the candidates was whether they knew of what security measures would be installed at the district's second high school, to be named and have ground broken on Saturday.
Enloe didn't know but said he intends to find out after Wednesday's tragedy, adding, "There are clearly tools and techniques that can be used on doors."
"Security has been enhanced," Couty said of JCHS. He said no visitors are allowed past the building's front vestibule without being buzzed in, which wasn't always the case.
He added likewise, at the new high school, every visitor will be followed into a vestibule, will have to show identification and give a reason why they're there in order to enter.
Murray reminded that Nichols Career Center and JCHS will have a shared, enclosed entrance after the renovations, "so at change of classes, you don't have the possibility where someone can slip in."
Beyond physical barriers, though, Couty said it's also important teachers and students be trained in active shooter drills. "We should not have to think about it. It should be second nature," he said.
Murray said the district has active shooter training for its buildings, has made other security improvements to buildings - some visible and some not - in recent years per its long-range recommendations, and maintains close relationships with the four police departments that serve schools in the district's boundary lines.
She also noted the district should work on its culture of "mutual respect, a culture that nobody's better than anybody else."
All three candidates present agreed they do not support arming teachers and administrators.
With uniformed law enforcement officers already assigned to district buildings, "I find it very difficult to think that a teacher who is in charge with nourishing and teaching is at the same time going to be handed a gun and say, 'there's a possibility you are going to have to shoot one of your students for the common good.' I'm not sure those roles are compatible," Murray said.
Couty said there are already lots of security measures in place - many of which the district simply can't talk about publicly, so as to avoid tipping off potential criminals.
Though school security understandably has been on the minds of the public this week, it's by far not the only local, state or national education issue.
The candidates were also asked about teacher pay, the continuing need for an elementary school on the east side of Jefferson City, preschool enrichment programs, drug and alcohol use in schools, charter school expansion and diversity issues in the local community that have been subject of much public discussion in recent months.
There was some applause at Couty's suggestion early childhood education be mandatory in the district, and all the candidates agreed it's important.
"I live on the east end. I'm obviously concerned about every student in our district, and I think we have to look again at all the buildings" and measure priorities in the context of where needs are, Enloe said, adding parents should be able to be proud of where their child attends no matter where in the district that happens to be.