NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – A special safety committee is asking New Braunfels Independent School District leaders, as well as the community, to invest millions of dollars into improving school security.
Hundreds of ideas were collected during multiple community meetings, and,on Monday, the committee announced its recommendations.
Superintendent Randy Moczygemba said that while the committee was formed following the shootings in Sutherland Springs and Parkland, the district began making updates to its security measures after the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
"We, as all school districts have, responded to each of these events by increasing safety measures at the campuses, and every time an event occurs, we review what we are doing," Moczygemba said.
According to Moczygemba, the community is requesting that the district hire school resource officers and purchase security cameras for all its elementary schools. Themiddle schools and high schools in the district are already equipped with security cameras.
The list of ideas also includes purchasing hand-held metal detectors to be used on occasion and requiring junior and high school students to have a photo identification.
Other ideas will also be discussed during closed-door meetings, for security reasons.
So far, the district is already expecting to set aside $2.4 million during the November bond to update security measures, but that amount could increase. The cost of the recommendations on the list is about $3 million.
Moczygemba said there would also be additional annual costs that would be paid through the annual budget.
The use of school resource officers, for example, would cost the district an additional $800,000.
"Even with security officers on campus and locked doors and practices and procedures people who have ill will are still getting in," Moczygemba said. "That's my biggest concern. I don't think any school can look parents in the face and say they are 100 percent safe."
Moczygemba said, unfortunately, security improvements are going to have to continue to be an ongoing investment.
"We're going to have to keep our guard up forever," Moczygemba said. "Forever is a long time."
This week, the New Braunfels Police Department offered to have police officers stationed at each school during the start of the day for the remainder of the school year.
The board voted Monday night to hire four school resource officers next school year. The district will pay $80,000 for the first year and $67,000 the following year. In the agreement, the district will pay 75 percent of the cost and the Police Department will pay 25 percent.