Almost a year after Uvalde, are Texas school students safer?
UVALDE, Texas - The Uvalde school mass shooting left 19 students and two teachers dead and made campus security an urgent priority. Now, almost a year later, are children in Texas schools any safer?
Jaie Avila with the News 4 I-Team examines what changes have been made and what is still being planned.
School districts aren't waiting for the legislature, they've beefed up security themselves, like at Southside ISD where they’ve surrounded their campuses with fencing, installed guard shacks at the entrances and you must be cleared by video phone before entering any buildings.
Southside also has resource officers at all campuses and the staff does regular checks to make sure doors lock.
At Northside ISD they have expanded their system of surveillance cameras and body cams on school police officers and made their radios more reliable.
Arnulfo Reyes, a teacher who was wounded in Uvalde, says it will take the legislature to fix the largest failure that day: the bungled law enforcement response that took 77 minutes to stop the shooter.
“It shouldn't be a republican thing or a democrat thing, they need to come together for the sake of the children," Reyes told News 4.
Earlier this week, the Texas House passed HB 3 that would require at least one armed officer or staff member on every campus and provide additional security funding for each school. There was debate however, with republicans saying teachers support the bill and democrats saying teachers instead want tighter gun laws.
“Some of the messages we had from the classroom teachers were, they wanted themselves to have a security officer, or be armed, or have protection," said the author of the bill, Republican State Representative Dustin Burrows of Lubbock.
“We must protect our children and we must protect our educators and the way to do stop this insanity is not by putting more guns on campuses," countered Democrat State Representative Ana-Maria Ramos of Dallas.
The Texas Senate earlier passed SB 11 requiring each school district to have an active shooter plan, and all school police officers to complete active shooter training.
“In order to be prepared when an actual event happens you have to be training on a recurring basis in order to have the skill set you need to respond," said Pete Blair, Executive Director of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State in San Marcos.
Another house bill, HB 13, would require school employees to complete mental health first aid training, and would pay a $25-thousand stipend to employees who complete training to be school guardians and carry weapons on campus.
House and Senate members will now negotiate any final changes to those bills.
Meanwhile, districts continue to take their own safety measures. At Alamo Heights ISD each staff member has a badge with a panic button. They can press to set off a lockdown alert and 911 is called for a faster response.
Southside ISD has ordered metal detectors to be installed at the entrances of all its schools. Security badges are also required to open doors to offices and hallways.
Northeast ISD says it has adopted the Standard Response Protocol and has added to its safety team, including a former Secret Service agent to focus on proactive safety measures. NEISD says it conducts weekly door checks and its staff is focusing on mental health.
Harlandale ISD told us its staff has been trained on Standard Response Protocol and Stop the Bleed for medical emergencies. Harlandale says it has upgraded its radio system, its security camera system and conducts safety audits at all facilities.
The San Antonio Independent School District says it has upgraded security by investing in vestibules at entrances, installed new cameras and instituted tighter access control. SAISD says its police department had increased visibility around campuses and has partnered with SAPD for information sharing and collaboration.
Northside ISD also tells us its police department will soon be adding a drone program to be paid for with a grant and donated funds.