SALAMANCA — In light of recent school shootings across the country, the Salamanca City Central School District welcomed elected officials from the region to address funding, partnership and school safety with the public.

For about an hour Friday, congressional representatives from the state and federal levels visited the school with Seneca Nation, Cattaraugus County and Salamanca officials to speak directly with the community.

State Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, mentioned some of the state’s plans for addressing school safety, including increasing the number of school resource officers, improving security and infrastructure and increasing resources for mental health care.

“We do not do enough in this state to help people with mental illness, and we especially don’t do enough to help children with mental illness,” she said.

Young said she believes the school shootings are a form of domestic terrorism and better communication between all emergency service agencies would help manage those situations.

“There’s nothing more important than making sure that our children are able to go to school and learn instead of having to go to school and be afraid,” she added.

District superintendent Robert Breidenstein said the district has focused on “doing much more for less” while still trying to keep students safe and well-educated.

“In Salamanca, we are very proud to tap into our local, statewide and nationwide relationships to get assets and supports,” Breidenstein said. “Having strong partners … is instrumental in helping our school district continue to meet the challenges we face each and every day.”

Nation President Todd Gates said children are among the most important resource the community has to protect.

“It’s all of our concern,” he said. “We need some younger people involved in some of these fights, too. … They’re part of our whole society, and they’re going to be our future leaders.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed said the relationships between county, state and federal officials with the city, school and Seneca Nation are something to celebrate. He said over $12 million has been allocated to the school district through Impact Aid.

Reed said he is looking forward to the conversations on how to make schools safer and getting the resources needed for a more secure environment for students. He also lauded the Seneca Nation for their partnership with other governments.

Assemblyman Joseph Giglio said the improvements for school safety are something everyone can agree on and work toward achieving. He said at the state level, they are proposing a dedicated source of funding specifically for school security and safety to deter violent attacks.

“Deterrence means you don’t think you can get away with it,” he said. “We want everybody to know that if you target our schools — or any schools — that you are not going to be able to get away with it.”

Capt. Shawn Gregory of the Sheriff’s Road Patrol said he is proud of the school resource officers (SROs) in the county and thankful for the Impact Aid that helps them have a presence in Salamanca.

“The sheriff and the legislature is 110 percent behind our SROs program,” he said. “This district is a model district. The way they’re handling things here and adding SROs with the funds they have available is phenomenal.”

Salamanca Police Chief Troy Westfall said in addition to the SROs and plans for better security, the local emergency responders will work on better response time to incidents.

“The average response time to these school shootings is around 18 minutes, and by then the shooters have already stopped shooting,” he said. “We need to lower that response time, and that is what I can do today.”

Westfall said the police would also like to look at policy changes and more and improved trainings so the officers are better prepared when a shooting occurs.

“If we are confronted with that, we want to be here immediately and be able to neutralize or bottle the threat until more help arrives,” he said.

Several of those who attended the public forum thanked all the officials for their work on improving the school and community through funding and security. Students in attendance said many of their questions were answered by the representatives and their plans, but Breidenstein noted that those same students are equally as important to the equation of school safety.

“The single most effective way to harden and protect our district is the relationships we have students,” he said. “When we know our kids and the pressure points they’re experiencing, we are far safer and far more able to respond.”

(Contact reporter Kellen Quigley at kquigleysp@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter, @Kellen_Quigley)