Roanoke Public Schools will appear in a PBS special tonight that’s part of the network’s “After Newton” programing airing this week.

PBS has devoted significant time this week to covering the aftermath of the tragedy in Newton, Conn. where on December 14 Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School before turning a gun on himself.

School security expert Ken Trump
Submitted photo — Justin McLeod, Roanoke City Public School

If you haven’t watched any of it yet, tonight might be a good time to tune in or set your DVR because Roanoke City Schools will make an appearance.  The PBS special programming started Monday and continues this week through Friday.

I watched the Frontline “Raising Adam Lanza” piece last night. It starts in the newsroom of the Hartford Courant and follows reporters there as they work to uncover who Lanza was and what life was like for him and his mother. The second half of the segment followed another reporter as he wrote about the debate surrounding gun control and how divisive it can be.

Roanoke will appear tonight in the second half hour of the special “The Path to Violence,” school system spokesman Justin McLeod said in an email. The school system and Superintendent Rita Bishop will appear in the segment, which will examine strategies that prevent school attacks.

The school system was filmed for the PBS piece last month when national school safety expert Ken Trump re-evaluated the school system’s security measures. At that time a documentary crew was following Trump while working and he was interviewed for the piece.

Bishop was also interviewed as part of the PBS documentary and will appear in the same segment as Trump. McLeod said the piece will also include a tour and inspection Trump did of Roanoke Academy.

“The producer says Roanoke City is highlighted as a district that is on the ball when it comes to school security,” McLeod said in an email.

Trump first worked with Roanoke schools in 2009. Bishop asked Trump to re-evaluate the system this year but has said the re-evaluation wasn’t linked to any recent school violence, but did note Sandy Hook did expedite the process.

During Trump’s visit last month he talked to schools personnel and examined security tools, including conducting site visits of schools. He said then he was pleased with the safeguards the system had in place.

“The Path to Violence” airs tonight at 10 p.m. on PBS.