SANTA FE, Texas – Santa Fe Independent School District leaders held a districtwide parent information session Thursday at the high school's auditorium.
School leaders said the purpose for the event was to talk about school safety.
"I think the meeting went good. I think a lot of information was given and people know what they're doing," grandparent Amador Briones said. "Looks like they have a lot of security and security measures in place so I think it's going to go good."
The nearly hour-and-a-half long meeting proved to be plenty of time for questions to be asked by concerned parents and answered by district leaders.
In fact, prior to the event, parents were encouraged to submit questions ahead of time so that district leaders could answer them at the session.
The district will now have 14 officers and 10 campus security assistants, including one that will monitor the 500 cameras across the district in real time.
"I thought it was very informative they've taken. They taking the proper steps that they said they were going to take. Everybody knows it takes time," parent Jeromy Willis said. "I think that this will be, you know, a part of the healing process for all the kids. I think it'll be good for them to take some time. Everything takes time to heal."
The new school year starts Monday, as students return to classes across the district including Santa Fe High School, the site of the deadly school shooting in May that claimed the lives of 10 people including students and staff.
The school board has already approved several school safety changes including:
- Installing special locks inside all Santa Fe High School class doors
- Remodeling the front entrance of the high school to include a security area with bulletproof glass and space for metal detectors
- Relocating classrooms and offices in the art department, where the deadly shooting took place
- Buying new alarms and panic buttons to be installed inside each of the high school's classrooms
- Metal detectors at all schools in the district
- Additional perimeter fencing at some schools
Of course, all those additions were discussed during Thursday night's meeting, along with many more safety measures.