EAST HAMPTON, Conn. — As the start of the school year gets closer safety and security are a top priority at East Hampton.
"You reach a point where you're like, hey everything's okay this is a nice little town we don't have to worry. I think Uvalde has caused us to once again look at it," said Paul Smith, superintendent of East Hampton Public Schools.
The deadly school shooting at an elementary school in Texas, prompted East Hampton schools to consider hiring either school resource officers, who would be current police officers or armed security officers who would be retired police. These officers are being considered for the elementary and middle schools.
Monday evening, parents spoke out both for and against the idea.
"We are all pro our children. We want our children to be safe and free from any harm during our school day. We want some kind of armed security to be in place to deter these violent acts towards our children," said Samuel Cruz, an East Hampton parent.
"We're going to have armed security not because it will make anyone safer, only because people in this room will feel that it will make people safer," said another parent, Jordan Werne.
Many who do want to see armed officers in their children's schools said they believe it will give them some peace of mind to know that there will already be someone in the building to respond in an emergency.
"I think we need to first and foremost start with securing our schools with security officers that have weapons, that are confident and ready to use them if needed and are there to support everyone on both a physical and emotional level," said one parent.
While those who are against the proposal argued tragedies have still occurred even when there have been officers in the school.
"Based on the actions of the armed security officer in Uvalde or Parkland I think it's hard to say an armed security did any good at all in those school systems. It was in fact quite a waste of resources," said Daniel Finn, an East Hampton parent.
Right now, the town's high school already has an armed security officer. However, all schools have several security measures in place, including laminated glass on all ground floor windows, an anonymous reporting system, and students' computers are monitored.
"We're re-looking at all of our plans, we're re-training all of our teachers this fall when they come back. We've made it clear that even if it's a nice warm day, no one is leaving any doors open. Though that's never been our practice," Smith said.
This week a survey on this topic is going out to all parents of students in Pre-K through 8th grade. The board of education said it will likely have another special meeting mid-August.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at gmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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