The Texas City, Tx. school district uses a facial recognition system to scan for people not allowed on school grounds. IDs track the whereabouts of students and staff. Teachers have cellphone panic buttons to alert police and will have special locks on classroom doors that can be activated remotely. An expanded security team keeps 22 AR-15 rifles in their offices. The district has spent $6.3 million in eight months on measures to keep students safe from potential shooters. “My philosophy is you fight fire with fire,” said Mike Matranga, a former U.S. Secret Service agent who was hired as head of security for the school district, the Wall Street Journal reports. School officials in Texas City, a Gulf Coast city of 48,000 known for petrochemical refineries, had already planned to improve safety. It escalated efforts last May after the school shooting in nearby Santa Fe, Tx.
Kenneth Trump of National School Safety and Security Services said he doesn’t know of a school district with the mix of security measures used in Texas City. It isn’t possible to make a school shooter-proof, experts say. The hope is to slow down a shooter until help arrives. “What we’re doing is we’re buying time,” said Matranga. Dedrick Johnson, with s three children in elementary school, has concerns with the ID system, which cost $621,000, worried that it will track movements outside of school. “When does the tracking turn off?” he said. Matranga said the tracking system covers only district properties and school buses. “The reason why I did this is not to spy on your kid,” he said. “It’s designed for us to rapidly evacuate a child from the scene, and to show you where your kid is.”