Metro Atlanta elementary schools are adding security measures. Is it enough?

Vincent Rhynes loops around Ashford Park Elementary every 30 minutes. Out the front doors, around the side of the building, through the gym and modular classrooms, cutting across the playground back to the main building.

“It’s a lot of walking,” Rhynes said, to make sure he has eyes on every entrance to the Brookhaven school. He’s there to make sure the worst doesn’t happen. It was his sixth day on the job.

Rhynes is the first elementary security associate hired to work in DeKalb schools. It’s a new role that district officials say is unique in the state. His job isn’t about disciplining students, but is focused on campus safety.

New security measures like this one are aimed at better securing the facilities that house the youngest students in metro Atlanta. There’s renewed interest in how officials keep schools safe in the wake of a shooting at Apalachee High School in northeast Georgia. In that case, crisis alert badges and school resource officers have been credited with preventing more casualties. Parents at some elementary schools without school resource officers are demanding their presence. The 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two adults were killed, is a grim reminder that such violence can occur at elementary schools.

“We’re adding this layer to make sure that the building itself is secure,” said Tracey Whaley, DeKalb’s chief of police.

Most metro Atlanta school systems have police forces that patrol elementary schools, as well as school resource officers, or SROs, that are stationed full time at specific schools. The National Association of School Resource Officers recommends one SRO in every school — and that “absolutely” applies to elementary schools as well, said Mo Canady, the organization’s president. But staffing can be an issue.

“The reality is we at this moment probably don’t have enough officers nationwide that really would fit the mold of an SRO,” Canady said. “I see districts and communities coming up with whatever they can to, if nothing else, at least temporarily fill that gap.”

The Barrow County Board of Education plans to hire eight new SROs after the Apalachee High shooting. That’s enough officers to have one at every school, Sheriff Jud Smith said.

Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods recently said he will push state leaders to provide funding to put one SRO in every school in the state . He did not say how many officers would be needed or how much the effort would cost. In Gwinnett and Cobb counties, the two largest school systems in Georgia, there are dozens more schools than SROs on staff.

Research shows while SROs can reduce some violence in schools, they don’t necessarily prevent shootings. A study published last year found the presence of SROs increased suspensions, expulsions, police referrals and arrests of students, particularly for Black students, male students and those with disabilities.

But staffing is far from the only way metro Atlanta schools have increased security in recent years. Schools have equipped staff with crisis alert badges that can quickly notify officials of an emergency; they’ve installed weapons detection systems in entryways; updated security cameras; and even made campus upgrades to provide physical barriers. Gwinnett County’s school system is exploring whether to implement a clear backpack policy for students in all grades to improve safety. Similar policies have been carried out in recent years in the Clayton and Rockdale school districts.

Atlanta Public Schools assigns SROs to middle and high schools, but not elementary schools. So, when the district decided to add security vestibules to each school entryway — a space that acts as a buffer where visitors wait to be admitted — it started with elementary schools.

“We figured if we want to increase our security posture, where do we start?” said APS Police Chief Ronald Applin. “We started with the elementary schools first.”

The idea, he said, is to prevent potential gunmen from slipping in, as one did in 2013 at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in DeKalb. A young man shot at police, but no one was injured.

Credit: Jenni Girtman

Elizabeth Adams has three children at Virginia-Highland Elementary School in APS. The school now has a security vestibule that was installed over the summer. Parents, including her, urged officials to build it. However, she said the shooting at Apalachee was a heartbreaking reminder that tight security might not be enough.

“At first we’re like, ‘OK, we have to have a vestibule; we have to have an SRO,’” she said. “At this point, I guess maybe I’m just demoralized to the point where I feel like if an active shooter wants to get into the school, they will find a way, and likely the best mitigating strategy is to ensure that everyone ... are following the security protocols and plans that should be put in place,” she said.

Adams said she believes the Virginia-Highland staff know and follow the school’s security plan well.

In a video posted on the APS website, Superintendent Bryan Johnson said the district will also “explore third party support” for security. “We will conduct an external ... safety audit to identify ways we can continue to improve,” Johnson said. He added that starting in October, the school system will put together a safety and security committee that will meet monthly.

Rhynes, at Ashford Park Elementary in DeKalb, is there to make sure the teachers can focus more on teaching than on security. And so far, the school community is glad to have the added layer of security.

“Since day one of me stepping foot at Ashford Park Elementary,” Rhynes said, “the parents have made it very, very, very well known that they’re thankful for me being present here and protecting their children.”

Credit: Jenni Girtman

What you need to know to be a DeKalb County elementary security associate

The DeKalb County School District wants to hire 76 elementary security associates — that’s one person to provide an extra layer of security at each of the district’s elementary schools. The district is interested in candidates with experience in security and working with children. The security associates are not armed and do not participate in student discipline. This a full-time, benefits-eligible position in the state’s third-largest school district. The salary ranges between $30,700-$45,200. For more information and to apply, visit dekalbschoolsga.org.

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