ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Mayor Tony Kennon is used to presiding over award ceremonies and pointing out outstanding efforts by citizens and city workers. And posing for pictures with them when those occasions arise.

Recently at a City Council meeting, he was the surprise recipient of an award, one normally given out during Honors Day at Orange Beach Elementary.

New Principal Lori Brocato, finishing her first full year in the post came to the podium after Kennon had posed for a couple of pictures with honors for students.

“The person who is receiving this honor cannot be (at Honors Day) so I brought this honor here tonight,” Brocato said. “The honor that I’m giving is for extraordinary dedication and service to the students at Orange Beach Elementary. This person has been contributed to our students in a meaningful way.”

Brocato said when her staff told her she had to pick the person for the honor, she knew who the choice would be.

“We had meetings after the tragedy in Connecticut in December and our mayor came to me and said ‘what can we do to make our school the safest school in the world,’” Brocato said. “We put our heads together and with his efforts I think we do have the safest school in the world.”

Brocato, Kennon and others came up with and implemented a plan, one that is still in the works.

“He put a full-time officer at our campus, Officer Joey Brown has done a phenomenal job,” she said. “We have panic buttons we wear every day and if there’s an intruder we immediately hit that and police are dispatched.”

More security measures for the school are being planned.

“We’re looking at impact glass and enclosing the breezeway,” she said. “There are lots of plans in the works to increase security.”

Kennon deflected the credit, saying lots of people were involved in helping with the new safety measures.

“What’s that saying: A quarterback gets far too much credit when he wins and far too much credit when he loses?” Kennon asked. “In this situation, even though I’m greatly appreciative and honored, there was a whole bunch of folks that made this happen. The council, for one, had to support the funding. Lanny (Smith, city EMA director), the police chief, Joey.

“There was a whole group of people that immediately, within 24 hours of our making a suggestion that we were going to fortify and take steps, they just jumped on the issue and started brainstorming on how to make it happen.”

When the panic buttons were activated, the city got calls from all over asking about the system.

“Orange Beach got significant recognition nationally for being one of the first to have panic buttons,” Kennon said.