Most San Antonio kids return to school today, and it comes at a time when campus safety is a front burner issue, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
In May, ten people were killed in a shooting at Santa Fe High outside of Houston. That triggered a summer's worth of hearings in the Texas State Legislature, where ideas were floated about how to prevent another massacre. A vocal group of advocates called for the arming of teachers.
In San Antonio's massive Northside ISD, Superintendent Brian Woods says that's not going to happen.
"We really haven’t had a conversation about arming staff. We have a police force in our district. We're one of the largest police forces in Bexar County."
He says if they offered it, he believes there would be some teachers would choose to be armed. But for the vast majority of their campuses, they're relying on a close relationship with campus and city police.
"Those folks are trained really, really well. Much better than we think we could train a staff member to carry a firearm."
He says there's also a small army of staffers armed with radios and phones who are trained to watch.
Similarly in the North East School District, they are relying on school police as well
"We are also one of the few districts, if not the only one, to have two k-9 officers. A random drug and weapons search is done every single day,"
Spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor writes. The NEISD has instituted a Buzz-in system. All front doors will be locked during school hours, which is a big change for parents.
There is also a new policy in place in the NEISD in which only clear or mesh backpacks are allowed to be worn by students.