Schools increase security after mass shootings in Texas, Buffalo

Kids, teachers and parents are scared in the wake of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, 10 days after 10 Black people were shot and killed in a Buffalo supermarket. 

Complete coverage: 10 killed, 3 wounded in mass shooting at Buffalo supermarket

Attendance was down a bit and police presence was up Wednesday, as parents and students were nervous about entering school after the shootings.

"It's just a never ending cycle of sadness and unbelievable situations," Laurrie said. "Coming on the heels of the tragedy in Buffalo, there was much more concern last night and today, and much more, I would say, trepidation." 

"It's been a long few years with Covid, then piling on two gun tragedies in two weeks, it's very, very hard," Lori Allan, director of communications and development at the Charter School for Applied Technologies, said. "It's the end of the year, you're trying to get to the finish line, and then – this."

While schools are dealing with sadness and anger, they also are trying to calm the fears of parents, students and staff, and a community still dealing with the tragedy at home.

Showing identification and getting buzzed through at least one locked door to enter a school has been the norm for years. Some schools have metal detectors. 

Niagara Falls and Buffalo Public Schools on Wednesday started requiring anyone visiting schools – parents, caregivers, siblings and vendors – to call first.

"The safety ​and security of our students ​and staff is our ​highest priority​! After the horrific Buffalo and Texas mass shootings, any person who wishes to enter a school MUST call ahead and obtain prior approval to enter the building," interim Buffalo Superintendent Tonja Williams said in her message to the school community.

There is video surveillance at Buffalo schools, and visitors could be subjected to wanding and a search, "for additional safety measures," she said.

"The Buffalo Police Department and/or Buffalo Public Schools security staff will have​ a presence in and around schools for an undetermined amount of time," the message said.

In addition to police and security, schools have prepared for the unthinkable in other ways.

"We do safety drills, and this is a reminder why," said  Allan, the  Charter School for Applied Technologies spokeswoman. "Nobody likes that we have to drill for it, but we do." 

She said the school usually does not tell students when they are having an active shooter drill, but that will change now.

"We are going to start telling them because it's been so traumatic recently," she said. 

In a letter to the community, Sabatino Cimato, superintendent of Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda schools, said, "Tragic incidents like this reinforce the critical need to ensure best practices are in place and followed in each of our schools."

Schools are addressing questions and reinforcing that schools are safe, Andrew Lyle, superintendent of the Charter School for Applied Technologies, told parents. 

"We understand the anxiety you may feel as you send your student off to school each day," he said.

While the weather is nice, students at CSAT will remain indoors for physical education classes and recess for the time being, Allan said.

"There's just more heightened awareness in the buildings," Allan said.

"The murders of 19 children and two staff members in an elementary school in Texas hits especially close to home because it threatens the sense of safety and security of everyone who works in a school or who has children in school," the Erie-Niagara School Superintendents Association said in a statement.

"Every superintendent goes to bed at night asking themselves, are we doing enough to protect our students tomorrow? We ask for the same from our elected leaders," New York State Council of School Superintendents President Phyllis Harrington and Executive Director Charles Dedrick said in a joint statement. "Have we all done enough to ensure the safety of the children, teachers and staff as they set foot in our schools? Families deserve to know they are a priority and that each person’s safety is an actual birthright."