COLORADO SPRINGS — As we continue our back-to-school series, it’s important to talk about school security. The Colorado Education Department is giving 110 million dollars to schools to help improve safety. But what are local districts in Southern Colorado doing to ensure our students are safe?
Several districts have worked to beef up security by installing security cameras, and by having armed school resource officers monitoring the halls.
For example, Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 has one school resource officer but seven-armed security guards.
The Pueblo Police Department provides enough school resource officers to be assigned to every school in District 60. Colorado Springs has about two dozen officers that serve across five districts.
Because they’re a sworn member of the police department, they usually carry their firearms. More importantly, these officers go through extensive training. They tell me that keeping our kids safe starts with trust between officers, students, and parents.
“I always believe that an engaged environment, whether that’s with parents and their children or school officials and their children is what equates to a safe environment in the school. Keep engaged, keep the trust, and keep those lines of communication open,” said Martin Tolan, the safety and security director at Harrison District 2.
D2 has three school resource officers and two-armed security administrators as well as three unarmed security guards.
But every school I spoke to says their plans are continually being looked at with a critical eye to make sure they are the most effective strategy. Part of that preparedness is ensuring each student knows what to do in the case of an active shooter. That’s why students in these districts have gone through active shooter drills.
District 2 also recently received a million-dollar grant to improve security systems.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
