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Several proposals announced Thursday by the Texas Education Agency would, among other changes, require public schools to install silent panic alarms and automatic locks on exterior doors.
Other suggestions include checking doors weekly to make sure they are locked and can only be opened from the outside with a key. Two-way emergency radios also need to be checked regularly. Schools are required to add some form of vestibules so visitors can wait before entering, and all ground-level windows are required to be made of bulletproof glass.
The proposed requirements come nearly five months after a gunman killed 21 people, including 19 children, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. The armed teacher entered the closed door but the automatic lock failed.
If approved, schools would have to begin implementing these safety measures starting in 2023. Before the end of the year, the Department of Education will gather public comments on the proposed rules.
The state has allocated $400 million for additional security measures, which will be distributed to districts. The Department of Education will make grant applications available to districts in the coming weeks. Districts receive those grants based on enrollment, while small, rural schools receive a minimum of $200,000.
The proposed security measures are the latest step the state has taken to secure schools in the wake of the Uvalde shooting. In June, the Department of Education announced it would inspect all locks on exterior doors and review school security plans in every district before the start of the 2022-2023 school year.
While Texas is moving forward with different security measures, experts said there is no sign that tightening security at schools will prevent violence. Instead, they may harm children, especially black and Hispanic children. Black students are overrepresented in all types of disciplinary referrals, and their behavior is more likely to be addressed by school police officers than their white peers.
Advocates and Uvalde parents have criticized the state’s response in the months since the shooting, urging state legislators to raise the minimum age to purchase a semiautomatic rifle in the state from 18 to 21.
They have asked Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session to make this happen. Abbott did not budge, signing legislation to expand gun rights.
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