EPISD Installs Upgraded Security Systems In 55 Elementary Schools

In this day and age, dropping your kids off at school doesn't just mean you hope that they don't get bullied on the playground and that they don't throw away their lunch - it also means worrying about their safety.

School shootings are a fact of life now, and the El Paso Independent School District says they want parents to know that they are doing what they can to keep their kids as safe as possible. The district introduced new security upgrades to schools around the district this week.

The district spent almost a million dollars on upgrades to every elementary school in the district. Included in the new are cameras that activate when someone presents themselves at the front door of an elementary school. A school employee will answer a phone and tell you to show your ID before you are allowed inside. Once inside, you will be directed to the front office where your ID will be put through several databases, including a sex offender registry.

The district's elementary schools also have a closed circuit TV that police can tap into in the case of an emergency situation. The video survelliance system can be uploaded into the mobile command unit and that allows the district public safety partners to establish a unified command. That allows them to share the school's feed, talk about entry points, and have tactical operations set through that unified command.

It's sad that we have to take these types of steps to keep our kids, but we do. It's glad to see the district doing so.