MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon High School says it plans to increase security to combat an uptick in violence this school year with a reported three fights or incidents last week alone.

MVTHS Board President Matthew Flannigan told WDML news that the school has a “wonderful student body and the overwhelming majority of students do not cause any discipline problems.”

However, he also says they’re not satisfied with the number of fights at the school, and more needs to be done to try and limit discipline problems.

Flannigan says that as a board, their main goal is to provide a safe and secure learning environment for students at the high school.

He explained that order to achieve that, one decision the board made several months ago is that a school resource officer is needed at the high school, . The administration has been in talks with the City of Mt. Vernon and other law enforcement officials to help make this happen as soon as possible.

Flannigan says they hope to announce soon that MVTHS will have an SRO on campus, like many other schools have and like MVTHS has had in the past.

Other measures the board has taken are to establish a discipline committee, and they are currently undergoing a full review and possible revision to the current discipline policies in the student handbook.

Flannigan also stated that the board will be looking at additional measures to keep the school safe but said he could not elaborate at this time.

If a parent or student has safety concerns they should contact interim superintendent marilyn holt at 618-244-3700.