The timing was more than a little ironic. It was downright chilling.

Yesterday more than 200 education and law enforcement officials in Delaware County gathered at Garnet Valley High School for the 11th annual Delaware County Safe Schools Summit.

It was the brain-child of former D.A. and now U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan. It has been embraced and expanded by current District Attorney Mike Green. Each year for more than a decade the summit has convened with a single goal: Keeping our kids safe while they’re in school.

The focus in the last couple of years has been to develop a single method of response to a potential incident. Officials refer to it as the One Plan.

Thankfully, it has not yet been necessary to implement here in Delaware County.

Tragically, we were reminded again yesterday that’s not the case everywhere.

Even as law enforcement officials were going through a table-top exercise involving several training scenarios at local schools, their colleagues in Cleveland were dealing with the real thing. With deadly results.

A troubled 14-year-old gunman literally was opening fire in an alternative high school in Cleveland as officials here plotted their strategy to deal with what most of us continue to think of as "the unthinkable."

In Cleveland, the student wounded four people – including two teachers – before turning the gun on himself, taking his own life.

The young man, who authorities say had been suspended from school for fighting, managed to get several guns into SuccessTech Academy. He is believed to have specifically targeted the two teachers he shot. He also opened fire on students as several hid in closets or bathrooms during the short reign of terror.

A familiar outline is now developing concerning the gunman. He was a kid with problems, somebody who apparently was picked on by other students. "He used to cuss out all the teachers," one classmate said of Asa H. Coon.

It is an image that haunts the country, as well as school and law enforcement officials here in Delaware County.

That’s why the lessons learned at Wednesday’s 11th summit are so valuable.

District Attorney Mike Green plans to report the results of the "one-plan" emergency response initiative to all municipal, police and school officials.

There’s a part of us who want to imagine that these things will not happen here. That this is something that other areas face, but we don’t.

The truth is, these kinds of deadly scenarios could happen anywhere. The lessons learned at the Safe Schools Summits will prove invaluable should a Delco school ever face the unthinkable.

Perhaps the last place any of us ever expected to see shattered by this kind of violence was just a short drive away. Those attending yesterday’s summit were reminded that violence can take place where we least expect it.

Capt. Jack Laufer of the Troop J Barracks of the Pennsylvania State Police briefed Delco officials on the state police response after a crazed gunman invaded a one-room schoolhouse in Lancaster County and opened fire on innocent Amish schoolgirls. He killed five, wounded five and then himself. And in the process burned the words Nickel Mines into the national consciousness, right next to Columbine.

Some of those lessons now will be used for other "one-room" facilities, such as many day care centers.

Every school in Delaware County should be well-versed in the "one-plan" response.

And hope to God they never have to put it into practice.