After latest massacre, schools around U.S. boost security
In the aftermath of the ele- mentary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, schools around the U.S. have brought in additional security staff and restricted visitors as they deal with a new rash of copycat threats.
For some families and educators it all has added to uneasiness in the wake of the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Jake Green, 34, of Los Alamos, New Mexico, was jolted when he saw a plainclothes police officer for the first time while walking his 7-year-old daughter into school Friday morning. He grew up in Colo- rado, not far from where two Columbine High School stu- dents shot and killed 12 class- mates and a teacher in 1999. Green remembers attend- ing memorials and candlelight vigils as a fifth-grader, but he’s torn about whether having police at his daughter’s school is best.
“In a way, I don’t really feel any safer with police around,” Green said. “Seeing the police there, it really made it seem like the worst possibility was even more possible today.”
In El Paso, Texas, where a gunman killed 23 people in a racist 2019 attack that targeted Hispanics at a Walmart, schools are on edge. The El Paso Independent School District has already encountered some reported threats that turned out to be false.
The district, which has its own police department, has also stepped up patrolling at all 85 campuses. Officers have been pulled from moni- toring traffic or other duties.
The district is making a point to look out for teachers’ and students’ mental health. A counseling team has been visiting every school to speak about the shooting in Uvalde. They are also urging people to talk in private about any distress.
Schools have ramped up police presence in a host of states, including Connecti- cut, Michigan and New York, after the shooting Tuesday that left 19 students and two teachers dead.
In Buffalo, New York, where a white gunman fatally shot 10 people in a racist attack in a supermarket on May 14, the largest school district announced new security rules effective immediately. Any visitors — parents, siblings, vendors — have to call ahead for approval. No exceptions will be made. They may be subjected to a search by a wand detector. Doors will be locked at all times.
It’s clear staff and students nationwide are on edge as several reports of firearm sightings on campuses have popped up in the past few days.
Two Seattle-area schools went into lockdown Friday morning and police eventually recovered an airsoft gun. The Everett, Washington, schools then had their lockdowns lifted.
Two people were arrested Thursday after a Denver high school locked down its campus. Police found a paintball gun but no other firearms. Classes were canceled anyway.