SANTA FE: Students in Santa Fe, Texas, will begin a new school year on Monday with additional security measures in place following a mass shooting in May that left 10 people dead.

The school district has metal detectors installed at entrances and hired five additional police officers, as well as 10 “security assistants” who will monitor hallways throughout the day. Teachers are receiving training on both trauma support and active shooter situations.

For some students, Monday will be the first time they’ve been back in class since the shooting rampage , which happened toward the end of the school year.

“We are going to try our best to get it all right on Monday, but I’m sure there will be things we’ll have to go back and tweak to get it right,” school board President J.R. “Rusty” Norman said last week, according to the Houston Chronicle. “But we will get it right.”

The school has also built a new hallway so students and staff won’t need to walk in the art classroom area, where authorities say Dimitrios Pagourtzis began a rampage that killed eight students and two teachers. The school says it’s also hired additional counselors who specialize in trauma to aid students and staff.

Rhonda Hart, whose 14-year-old daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, was among the students who died in the shooting, said she and other victims’ parents welcomed new safety features at the high school, including metal detectors. However, Hart, who has been outspoken on the need for more gun control, said her middle-school-age son would not be returning to a Santa Fe district school this year.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2018