El Paso school districts revisit security in wake of deadly school shooting in Florida

El Paso school districts are examining their security procedures in the wake of the school shooting in Florida that left 17 people dead.

As millions watched the deadly shooting rampage in Florida unfold before their eyes local school districts were busy re-evaluating security at their own schools.

“It’s not just a one-time deal. We visit security year-round,” YISD spokesman Chris Lechuga said.

“We start scouring the events, we start looking for some of the clues of what happened, initially people are saying, what happened, what’s ocurring,” EPISD Safe and Secure Schools Manager, Manuel Chavira said.

Socorro ISD and EPISD have police departments and officers at high school and middle schools with rotating officers at elementary schools. Ysleta ISD has security guards at each school and they work with the El Paso Police Department.

“Our doors are locked in the morning as soon as we get everyone in there, we make sure everyone is funneled through the front,” Ismael Castro, SISD’s Emergency Operations Plan Manager said.

Doors remain locked at each district and visitors are screened at the front entrance. Visitors must provide an ID before being allowed inside the school.

“When we talk about the types of tragedies that are occurring all across the United States, layers and layers of security are what our response is to these thing,” Chavira said.

Officials say they also monitor social media and threats.”We go to the houses, if we encounter the parents, we tell the them this is what we got from your child, please allow us into your house,” Chavira told ABC-7, “If they give us permission, we search the house for weapons. Oftentimes, we have discovered weapons in the house and the parents are just as surprised as anyone else.”

EPISD officials tell ABC-7 their officers are in the process of acquiring rifle proof vests after receiving a grant last year. They’re equipped with bulletproof vests, but believe this would help in the event of a serious shooting.

At the Socorro Independent School District, schools have surveillance cameras.

“We have our police dispatch which has approximately 30 screens on there, and they can view all the schools within that screen, they go through that process. We do have cameras in the exterior and the interior of the campus as well,” Ismael Castro, SISD’s Emergency Operations Plan Manager said.

SISD has also implemented an anonymous reporting system.

“We have our anonymous emergency system that everyone can report to, in addition adults in our building, our teachers, our security officers, our administrators, any situation that may arise on the campuses, they can report to them.”

When asked how they prevent students from bringing in weapons, SISD officials say they try to build relationships with students.

“Building relationships. Building relationships within our campuses, with the teachers, with the students, one of the biggest things that we look for is information obviously. I think it goes back to building those relationships and that culture within our school system to be able to have somebody that can say, I want to go report this to an adult, to somebody and then we act upon that report.”