Recent shootings near McNair High School appeared to be a wake-up call for DeKalb County police and school officials, as they announced Thursday a new, county-wide, anti-violence task force.

"Less isolationism and more working together," said DeKalb schools Superintendent Crawford Lewis, summing up what he described as a new spirit of collaboration in the name of public safety.

Two teenagers were shot in the last week in separate incidents near McNair, prompting questions about the safety of 1,300 students on the south DeKalb campus as well as in the surrounding neighborhood.

Lewis, DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones and other community leaders took pains Thursday to defend the school. By coincidence, the school Friday will host a long-planned youth summit about gangs and violence.

"I hate when things like this happen, because we are doing things to improve," said school board member Jay Cunningham, who grew up in the community and graduated from the former Walker High School before it was renamed for NASA astronaut Ronald E. McNair.

The task force, which met informally for the first time Thursday and will next meet Feb. 20, was described by Lewis and Jones as heavily influenced by law enforcement and involving representatives of DeKalb County police, DeKalb school police, MARTA police and the district's attorney's office.

Planning and communication would be key topics of future meetings, they said.

Its formation came one day after DeKalb school police charged a teenager in both shootings.

The teen, who officials would not identify because of his age, is charged with four counts of aggravated assault. He is a juvenile and a DeKalb student but does not attend McNair, school police Deputy Chief J.J. James said.

James said little about the ongoing investigation except that other charges were possible. She would not rule out if additional arrests would be made.

A 15-year-old McNair student was shot Tuesday at a MARTA bus stop near the school's entrance at Bouldercrest and Key roads. Last Friday night, a 19-year-old man was shot as a basketball game was played inside the school. Both victims were expected to recover.

In a letter sent home to parents Wednesday, McNair Principal James Jones said the school has at least temporarily increased the number of armed officers on campus from two to eight.

Jones also said that students who ride public transit will now be picked up from the regular bus-loading zone immediately in front of the school instead of the MARTA bus stop where the shootings occurred.

"Restoring a sense of security among the McNair High School community is of [a] critical nature and high importance to us," Jones said.