USA TODAY International Edition
Parkland students return to school
Security measures have been enhanced
Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school encountered beefed-up security — guards, locks and 52 new security cameras — when they arrived Wednesday for their first school year since a gunman opened fire on campus and killed 17 people on Valentine’s Day.
The change at the Florida high school is starkly evident: There is only one entrance for visitors, who are screened via a video intercom system.
Only staff and students wearing IDs are able to pass through new fences and gates, which are watched by school resource officers, campus monitors and security and security specialists.
All classroom doors have new hardware that automatically locks when doors are pulled shut. Witnesses said teacher Scott Beigel and student Joaquin Oliver were fatally shot as they helped students inside to safety, in part because the old hardware required relocking from the outside.
“Securing the primary access points for staff into the building ensures these entrance points can remain locked at all times and prevent unauthorized access on campus through the main building,” Broward school superintendent Robert Runcie said in a statement on the school’s website.
Runcie also said the school district has invested $6.2 million in a new video surveillance system.
The district is also installing additional fencing and gates to establish a secondary perimeter, according to Runcie.
There are no metal detectors, however, as administrators decided against them because of privacy concerns and the unwieldy reality of trying to screen thousands of students each morning.
The school has increased its security staff to 15, and the city of Parkland and the Broward Sheriff ’s Office will also be providing three school resource officers.
The Broward school district, however, has had trouble filling new positions district-wide for armed guardians, the Sun-Sentinel reports. Most of the 140 applicants for the positions, which were mandated by the state Legislature after the Feb. 14 shooting, did not meet the requirements, the newspaper reported.
Guardians must go through 144 hours of training. Sheriff ’s deputies will be used to fill the gaps as additional applicants undergo training.
For students, staff and visitors, the shuttered freshman building where a former student opened fire is a grim reminder of the gun violence. It remains a crime scene, behind a 12-foot fence bearing such slogans as “MSD strong” and “Parkland strong.”
The classes that normally would be held there are taking place in more than 30 portable classrooms.