TEXARKANA -- The tragic school shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday has prompted some local school districts to review their campus student safety policies.
Texarkana Independent School District's superintendent and board members addressed the mass shooting that left 21 people dead -- including 19 children -- during a Wednesday board meeting, saying the situation calls for a review of the district's campus safety procedures.
"We will be reevaluating our campus policies in light of what happened in Uvalde (Tuesday)," TISD board member Fred Norton Jr. said. "While we are confident that we've taken every precaution that we possibly can, we believe it's prudent just to do a top-to-bottom review of everything and ask administration to proceed with that."
In January 2022, TISD's board approved the appointment of a school marshal, who is allowed to carry a firearm and to respond to various types of calls by the TISD police department for the safety of the district. TISD's police department has seven officers frequenting all campuses throughout the school day, along with four full-time security officers who support the TISD PD in monitoring and visiting campuses.
"We do take seriously our commitment to student safety, and we will be continuing to review our policies and procedures related to that," Superintendent Dr. Doug Brubaker said.
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Pleasant Grove ISD also has its own police department, established in October 2021.
"Since the establishment of the police department, our police chief has evaluated safety and security procedures to enhance our ability to keep students and staff safe," according to a statement provided by PGISD.
"In 2018-2019, Pleasant Grove completed an update to visitor access across the district by equipping campuses with access control. Pleasant Grove ISD routinely allows local law enforcement agencies to train in our facilities after school hours to enhance their response skills while familiarizing themselves with our campuses."
After adding about 600 students since the beginning of the district's previous School Resource Officer program, the district decided to move toward becoming self-sustaining when it came to security.
In the SRO program, PGISD was effectively lent an officer from the Texarkana Texas Police Department for the school year. The district department has multiple employees and functions year-round.
Texarkana Arkansas School District has state-commissioned school security officers at every school.
The district also has Scan Viewers implemented, which monitor all persons entering the school at Arkansas High and Arkansas Middle schools. TASD reported Thursday that it may consider installing Scan Viewers in its elementary schools in the near future, in light of the recent events in Uvalde.
"The Texarkana Arkansas School District updates and maintains its Crisis Plan and Procedures for every school," according to a district statement.
The districts also conduct active shooter/intruder drills annually at each of their campuses.
According to the Texas Education Code, the governing body of a private school may appoint one or more school marshals. A school marshal appointed by the governing body of a private school may carry or possess a handgun on the physical premises of a school, but only in the manner provided by written regulations adopted by the governing body.