Post-Covenant

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 facilitate safety operations. On-duty police officers will continue to be present in and around elementary schools, along with the department planning the deployment of a new “rapid response team.”

Additional school safety measures — not all of which are new — include security vestibules, AV intercom locks, routine drills, locked classrooms, interior and exterior cameras, badge-access control, a K-9 division and visitor management systems. Officers will have key cards, and lockboxes with keys and building information will be placed in schools for first responders to utilize in case of emergencies. Suspicious behavior can be reported to individual schools, the district’s family information center or to the police. The district also folds social and emotional learning into its safety response. Some families say they feel safer when an armed guard is on school grounds, while others worry that increased exposure to SROs could have negative effects on students — such as the criminalization of normal childhood behavior. Local officials maintain that SROs are not involved with discipline. While there have been positive anecdotes about relationships with SROs, there have also been reported instances of abuse and extreme altercations between SROs and students across the country. In 2021, a Knoxville student was shot and killed in