School security has drastically changed since the school shooting at Columbine High School in April of 1999 and following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT.
Prior to the shooting at Columbine, it wasn't a given that school doors would be locked or to have security cameras to monitor campuses.
From 1999-2015 the number of students who said school doors were locked during class jumped from 38% to 78%. In 1999, the same year as the shooting at Columbine, 19% of schools reported using security cameras. By the 2013-2014 school year, 75% of schools had cameras installed.
Tampa Bay area schools began to really discuss school security changes after the December 14th, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. School districts and local police immediately increased patrols at schools.
Each district went over security procedures and plans to harden schools.
Some schools added enhanced locks and put buzzers on front doors.
Pinellas was already in the process of securing school entrances and perimeters. Hillsborough committed a million dollars to harden schools and hired a national school security expert.
There were calls in many districts to put full-time officers in every single school -- that didn't happen.
The school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, changed that.
There are guards in every school in the state as part of the school safety mandate. Schools have also created single entry points with many, installing bulletproof partitions, and changing procedures for parents and visitors.
And now teachers go through active shooter training … as Phil just shared some districts also take students through it.
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