North Carolina school district upgrades school security with rifles, breaching tools

Schools in Madison County, North Carolina have rolled out increased security measures for the upcoming school year that include AR-15 rifles locked in safes at each of its six schools, reports the Asheville Citizen-Times.

The upgrades come in response to the shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24. 376 officers had responded to the incident but did not act immediately due to a lack of leadership and inaccurate information, according to a scathing 77-page report by the Texas House committee investigating the tragedy.

"Those officers were in that building for so long, and that suspect was able to infiltrate that building and injure and kill so many kids," said Madison County Sheriff Buddy Harwood, whose department collaborated with the Madison County Schools district to develop new safety measures for the upcoming school year, on Friday.

"I just want to make sure my deputies are prepared in the event that happens."

The security upgrades is just one of the safety initiatives the district is conducting for the 2022-23 school year, said Superintendent Will Hoffman. Additional social workers and counselors are being assigned to each school to assist school resources officers, panic buttons have been installed and law enforcement has been granted access to school security camera systems.

Sheriff Harwood said the new safes contained breaching tools in the event an attacker is barricaded inside a classroom, along with extra ammunition.

"I hate that we've come to a place in our nation where I've got to put a safe in our schools, and lock that safe up for my deputies to be able to acquire an AR-15. But, we can shut it off and say it won't happen in Madison County, but we never know,” said Harwood.

“I want the parents of Madison County to know we're going to take every measure necessary to ensure our kids are safe in this school system.”

Harwood said that SROs are receiving additional training at the local technical college and have participated in two training sessions for an upcoming live drill on Aug. 17.

"The scenario will incorporate all of our teachers, just to prepare them what to look for in the event we have to come into a school," said the sheriff.

"We've got helicopters that will be there. It will be a live situation. We'll do the classroom portion of it in the morning."

Superintendent Hoffman called the district’s partnership with law enforcement “critical,” saying: “"No organization can do this alone. That’s why strong community partnerships are integral to our safe school efforts, they are more important now than ever."