When the Boothbay Harbor police chief met the Aroostook County inventor of body armor backpacks, he knew the gear might help kids feel safer in school.
Chief Doug Snyder, who often works with schools to improve safety, listened to teachers about student fears of school shootings. After securing $23,625 in private foundation grants, he ordered 105 backpacks from Houlton-based Mundbora Inc. to place one in each elementary and high school classroom.
“When I graduated from high school, Columbine had just happened,” Snyder said Friday. “So it’s kind of hard for us to think about it how the kids think about it [when it happens] every day, every week. I wanted to figure out a way of making them feel a little more comfortable about being in school.”
The Columbine principal said he never thought it would happen in his school, Snyder said. And before the 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston, many Mainers never imagined such a tragedy could happen in the state.