(ABC 6 News) – Several schools across southeast Minnesota have recently experienced potentially dangerous situations, prompting law enforcement and parents concerned with their children’s safety to respond.

Kara Stemig is a parent of three young children, one of whom attends Byron Intermediate School.

She’s also one of the many parents of Byron students who received a message Tuesday afternoon from district Superintendent Dr. Mike Neubeck when a “unidentified substance” was discovered in a student’s locker.

–RELATED STORY: UPDATE: ‘Suspicious substances’ found in juvenile’s locker at Byron HS —

According to the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office, who responded to the situation alongside a bomb squad and a K9 unit, the substance was deemed not dangerous.

That hasn’t stopped some parents from wanting to know more.

“We have a pretty active community on Facebook of Byron moms and parents and things so there was some chatter there,” said Stemig. “People were confused on (whether) it was like a drug or if it was like a bomb, I think there were a lot of questions.”

Byron wasn’t the only incident though.

In the last week, a potential threat to Kasson-Mantorville High School was discovered, prompting an increased police presence Wednesday, and a middle school student in Owatonna pulled a knife on another student last Friday while at an after-school event.

Both of those incidents were resolved thanks to school resource officer who were on hand.

–RELATED STORY: Kasson-Mantorville High School targeted by potential threats —

“Those officers work directly with school staff day in and day out,” said Capt. Joshua Sorensen of the Owatonna Police Department. “And the students, they build relationship and can really create a positive impact.”

Situations like these crop up in schools all the time now.

For law enforcement, it’s become an unfortunate part of the job.

“We just try to rely on our training and our abilities to curb a situation that might come about,” said Sorensen.

For parents, even of younger ones like Stemig, it’s become a fact of life.

“I think what’s difficult is that there’s a lot of these things happening right now and they’re a constant thing that our students have to worry about in the school,” she said. “For me, it’s about making sure that I communicate to him what has happened. Making sure that he knows what he should do if he gets into those situations and that he knows that he’s safe when he does go to school.”

None of the three incidents resulted in anything serious or anyone getting hurt, but they do remind those connected to them about the realities of the today’s world and what it takes to keep people safe.

Though the Byron and Owatonna incidents have since been handled, each of these situations is still under investigation.

Officials with Kasson-Mantorville schools have also said they don’t believe there is a credible threat to the high school.