ATLANTA — Tens of thousands of families across metro Atlanta are getting ready for the new school year, which, for some school districts, begins Monday.
Many of the the districts are facing identical challenges, including teacher shortages, infectious disease concerns, disputes over classroom content, and --especially after the horrific school shooting in Texas -- security.
For months, parents across metro Atlanta have been demanding better school security, arguing with their school boards and each other about what to do -- and not to do.
It’s now more than two months since the mass shooting in Texas, and school districts in metro Atlanta are still putting new security measures in place.
Clayton County is installing $5.2 million worth of body scanners at all high schools and middle schools to detect weapons.
And Clayton County is recruiting and training volunteers to patrol all of the schools, unarmed -- putting them all through background checks, first -- so they can serve as extra eyes and ears for school administrators and police.
“I actually see this as being a model for possibly other school districts to use,” said Shakira Brown Rice, who is in charge of the new program, “because right now, all districts, we are fighting the same battle.”
DeKalb County is adding 22 school resource officers, for a total of 100 officers. And DeKalb has agreements with the police chief and the sheriff to provide additional patrols outside and inside the schools.
Cobb County is just beginning to train and arm some employees, but not teachers, to patrol inside the schools. And Cobb is providing school staff with electronic “crisis alert” badges that have buttons to allow them to activate an alert for help.
Gwinnett County is installing electronic door locks at its schools, and visitors will now have to submit to instant background checks to make sure they’re not on the sex offender registry.
“It does not check any kind of immigration status, a wanted status, if there are outstanding warrants or anything like that,” said Tony Lockard, the Chief of the Gwinnett County Schools Police Department. “That comes into the legality of running a criminal history check. No, it purely (checks someone) against the sex offender registry.”
Gwinnett also plans to add more school resource officers, but not right away.
Fulton County has allocated $6 million more for school security and is still developing its safety plans.
And Atlanta's enhanced security plan includes putting all of its school resource officers through active shooter training.
“You have to get to the shooter,” said Ronald Applin, the Chief of the Atlanta Public Schools Police Department. “You have to get to that shooter, stop his aggression, so that no one else is hurt.”
While security improvements are still evolving across metro Atlanta school districts on the eve of the new school year, parents -- including Stephanie Roberts, as she told 11Alive last week -- are demanding nothing less than perfect security, immediately.
“You don’t think it’s going to happen at your school or in your child’s community,” Roberts said. “Then it does happen, and then it’s like a woulda, coulda, shoulda.”