HILLSBOROUGH - Except for 112 absences Thursday, the day after the shooting at Orange High School went by mostly like any other, according to a spokeswoman.

"It's hard to say how unusual that is because there's a lot of variation at the beginning of the school year," Orange County Schools spokeswoman Anne D'Annunzio said. "School attendance often doesn't stabilize until after Labor Day."

Still, she said 30 to 40 more students were absent Thursday than had been on each of the past four days. Total enrollment is about 1,000 students.

Officials tried to "keep the day as normal as possible" for the students, D'Annunzio said.

Three to five school resource officers from the Orange County Sheriff's Office walked the school's hallways throughout the day to make people feel more secure, D'Annunzio said.

Also, the school had a crisis team standing by, and the principal, Jeff Dishmon, brought faculty together Thursday morning to brief them about caring for the students during the day.

"Today, everything was fine," said senior Lucas Best, who ate lunch on the patio Wednesday and witnessed the shooting. "Every time I did start to feel jumpy in the cafeteria, I remembered there was extra security and didn't have anything to worry about."

But junior Taylor Fulford thinks more could have been done to keep students safe.

"They should close the gates after all the students get in the parking lot," she said. "Or students should have some ID or pass to show at the gate."

Her grandmother agrees. Jacqulene Burton went to pick Fulford up after school Thursday.

"You send your kids to school to be taken care of while they're here," she said. "The teachers and everybody did a fine job, but it should not have happened."

At the Orange County Board of Education meeting Thursday evening, the superintendent and board chairman thanked everyone who helped keep the students and faculty safe Wednesday.

Chairman Dennis Whitling singled out Russell LeBlanc and London Ivey. LeBlanc, a driver's education teacher and former state trooper, and Ivey, a school resource officer, confronted Alvaro Castillo, told him to drop his weapons and handcuffed him.

Their actions received a standing ovation from the more than 100 parents and students sitting in Orange High School's auditorium.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners also met Thursday night. Commissioner Stephen Halkiotis, who lives just outside Hillsborough, said people in town "are in a semi-state of shock."

"I think it can happen anywhere," he added. "We escaped a real tragedy."

(Staff writer Cheryl Johnston Sadgrove contributed to this story.)

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