CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A resource officer at George Washington High School looked into allegations of a student making violent statements. Police led bomb-sniffing dogs through schools in Wirt and Roane counties after threats were made. And Charleston police asked entire divisions of officers to patrol city schools for any sign of crime.

On Monday, police stepped up their presence at West Virginia schools to ease fears of another deadly attack like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where police said a gunman forced his way into the school and fatally shot 26 children and adults Friday.

Students and parents may have feared a copycat attack Monday, but no one was in any more danger than they were prior to learning of the deadly shooting in Connecticut, said Charleston Police Sgt. Bobby Eggleton.

Officers and detectives from Charleston Police Department divisions were assigned to every school in the city as security and to direct traffic. They would be there until students went home for winter break next week, Eggleton said.

"We're doing this at the direction of [Chief Brent Webster] to just make the public feel safe again," he said.

The Connecticut shooting also has shed new light on the state Board of Education's work on Senate Bill 592, which, at the Legislature's request, will provide a consistent statewide crisis response plan for schools.

The bill, which was introduced in June of 2011, asks that the plan be implemented by August, said Liza Cordeiro, a spokeswoman for the state school board.

"Every school system in the state has a crisis response plan in place for any type of crisis every day of the year. With that said, we do recognize we still have a long way to go," Cordeiro said. "Everyone has always realized safety is paramount, but it's good we're talking about it more, and this August deadline is at the forefront.

"What's nice about a consistent plan is it will all go online for first responders so that they have the blueprints, know where exits and locked doors are," she said. "Right now, that's all on paper, but it's not easily accessible."

Charleston Police Lt. Shawn Williams said Monday's patrols were quiet except for reports of a George Washington High School student making threatening statements in the morning.

"The resource officer investigated and it wasn't as bad as what had been reported," Williams said.

Meanwhile, students at Wirt County High School and Geary Elementary Middle School in Roane County were evacuated after both schools received bomb threats, officials said.

State police and their K9 units in Wirt County swept through the school and found no signs of explosives or danger, said Edwin Wriston, county director of emergency services. The school learned of the threat at about 10 a.m. Students were evacuated to a nearby church until the scene was cleared more than two hours later, Wriston said.

Roane County 911 dispatchers said the Geary school received a bomb threat just before school let out at about 2 p.m. A Roane sheriff's deputy checked out the scene and cleared it of any danger a short time later, dispatchers said.

West Virginia is continuing to improve school safety and had been reforming crisis response plans before the Connecticut shooting on Friday, according to Mike Pickens, executive director of school facilities for the state Department of Education.

A template for the statewide crisis plan has already been developed, and thousands of professionals across the state are being trained to use the Automated Critical Asset Management System provided by the federal Department of Homeland Security.

A statewide school access safety plan also has been ongoing, Pickens said.

The Legislature appropriated $30 million over the past three years for county school systems to implement a variety of physical safety measures. They include cameras, card access entrances, extra exterior doors and locking devices.

"The money has been divvied out to school systems for the purpose of constructing hardware and software to deter access to schools and ... to control access through a central office location," Pickens said.

He said it's important to have trained people in the central office to see who's at the school's front entrance.

"Staff have been trained to handle the situation [and] rooms should be marked with appropriate signage," Pickens said. "Even the bushes outside some schools are meant to further deter intruders."

The safety plans do not include recruiting police patrols, Pickens said. That is usually done on a county-by-county basis.

"It's more of a, 'What we would do if this happened' type of thing. If there was a chemical spill or an intruder, how would we handle it?" he said.

Putnam County Schools Superintendent Chuck Hatfield told school board members Monday night that he received three or four calls from parents who wanted information about what the county does to ensure that students are safe.

"They just wanted reassurance that their kids were safe," he said.

Earlier this month, Cedar Grove Community School in Kanawha County was placed on lockdown after police feared a woman might take an allegedly stolen gun to the school to pick up her children.

Christy Jarrell, 29, turned herself in to state troopers in Rand on Dec. 4. She was charged with petit larceny in connection to the stolen weapon.

On Sept. 28, police said they arrested a man who wanted to take a gun to a Sissonville High School football game near Halloween and start shooting.

Shawn Patrick Foglesong, 40, was charged with making terrorist threats after police said he told a Charleston counselor that he had homicidal ideation and was "thinking of killing someone, up close and personal," according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

Foglesong remains in South Central Regional Jail in lieu of a $150,000 bail. He was recently denied a bail reduction during a preliminary hearing in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

Staff writer Kate White contributed. Reach Travis Crum at travis.c...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163. Reach Mackenzie Mays at Mackenzie.m...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4814.