Variable clouds with scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly during the afternoon hours. High 79F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Schools across the country temporarily stepped up security measures last spring following an elementary school massacre in Texas. But for Pitt County Schools and many other districts across the state, increased law enforcement presence continues.

The district began the new academic year this week with 33 school resource officers assigned to elementary, middle and high schools across the county. It is working to hire two more officers to add to the staff that serves nearly three dozen schools.

The county’s early college high schools, located on the campuses of Pitt Community College and East Carolina University, are protected by campus police.

The addition of four SRO positions approved earlier this year by the county Board of Commissioners gives PCS more than twice as many officers as it had in 2017.

“We are appreciative of the Board of Commissioners for its unequivocal support, especially in matters dealing with the safety of our children, our most valued asset,” Superintendent Ethan Lenker said in a statement.

“While we’ve experienced significant growth from 14 positions just six years ago, the commitment to keep the safety of our children as the top priority must always remain at the forefront,” he said. “We need to continue to be in a prepared and responsive position, not a reactionary one.”

According to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s K-12 School Shooting Database, 2021’s 222 school shootings represent an all-time high. The second- and third-worst years on record were 2018 and 2019. The database, which records accidents and suicide attempts in addition to attacks, lists 2,069 school shootings with 1,937 injuries and 684 fatalities from January 1970 to June 2022.

Following the May school shootings in Uvalde, Texas, North Carolina lawmakers passed a budget that included a $32 million School Safety Grant program with $15 million aimed at placing more officers in middle and elementary schools. The state increased its share of matching funds provided to districts.

The increase in the number of SROs is one of several initiatives underway aimed at improving security in Pitt County. Another ongoing effort is the planned installation of school bus cameras.

Assistant Superintendent of Operations Matt Johnson told members of the Board of Education earlier this month that the school district is still awaiting the arrival of school bus cameras.

“The security cameras bus and building are a major supply-chain problem,” he said. “It’s the actual microchips inside the cameras that they’re having problems getting. Right now we’re just having vendors saying, ‘I can’t get you those cameras, so I’m not going to give you a price.’”

When the board approved a plan to purchase the cameras in 2020, the projected cost of installing cameras on 220 school buses and 60 activity buses was $1.5 million, with an additional $1.2 million to upgrade the camera system within the schools.

The district also has plans to use about $280,000 in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding to replace or install fencing as a security upgrade at Ayden Elementary, Falkland, Grifton and Wahl-Coates schools. The four are among schools that have an open-campus design. Common among schools built before 2000, the design requires students to be outside as they travel between buildings.

Anna Williamson’s son, Michael Smith, attended third grade at Ayden Elementary last school year. On Monday, she brought him and his younger sister, Aubree, a kindergartner, to their new school, Lakeforest Elementary. Williamson said she especially likes the secure corridors feature, which includes locking exterior doors, cameras at front doors and visitor check-in systems. The security upgrade, completed across the school district in 2019 at a cost of $1 million, is designed to prevent outsiders from gaining unauthorized access to school buildings.

“The way the world is today, it’s kind of scary,” Williamson said, adding that she is glad to know that “nobody is going to walk in and take my children.”

Parent Susan Brown’s twin daughters attend Wintergreen Intermediate, one of the schools that is set to hire an additional resource officer this year.

Brown appreciates the additional personnel as well as physical enhancements that provide an additional barrier between her children and a possible intruder.

“You can’t go through the second set of doors; those doors are locked,” she said. “I feel very secure sending my kids to school.”

Keshonda Bridges, whose son, Karter, attends Lakeforest, said school safety is top priority for parents, especially during the last two years when they have not been able to accompany their children inside.

“I definitely had a lot of concerns, especially with the stuff that happened last year with the school in Texas,” she said. “However, we pray and we just ask for God’s covering every day. We’re hoping that everything remains safe and we have the proper security in hand and everything goes well.”

Contact Kim Grizzard at kgrizzard@reflector.com or call 329-9578.

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