SAN ANTONIO — School districts across Texas are reassessing their security infrastructure after a gunman killed 21 people at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
Educators may turn this summer to high-visibility solutions like armed guards, vestibules, automatic locking systems, or bulletproof glass.
One expert says each measure represents an added layer of protection, but that school administrators should first implement simple solutions.
"Simple things add up," Brian Jackson said.
Jackson works as a senior physical scientist at RAND, a thinktank researching school security and emergency preparedness. The federal government often partners with RAND to develop best-practices.
He and other researchers analyzed school safety technologies in a 2016 study commissioned by the National Institute of Justice.
The panel found that many school districts would benefit from giving teachers two-way communication systems.
Jackson also says too many districts don't have reliable door locks.
"That's almost the most basic of security technologies," he added. "It's not sexy. It's not sensors or radar. But it is something that... can result in some students being insulated from harm."
School principals should ask themselves "how confident they are that the different things they have in place would perform," Jackson said.
"A technology doesn't solve the security problem on its own," he said, emphasizing the need for comprehensive plans and cross-discipline training.
The researcher added that he cringes when politicians or administrators suggest one-size-fits-all solutions after tragedy.
"What's right for one area might not be right for another," he said. "We always want to simplify. We always want there to be an easy answer... but there almost never is."