ORANGE PARK, Fla. — Increased security and police presence will be at all Clay County schools this week in response to the mass shooting in Texas on Tuesday.
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“It’s heartbreaking,” Shannon Hube said. “These are my babies too. I have six of my own but these are my kids too.”
Shannon Hube is a mother of six and a consumer science teacher at Lakeside Junior High in Orange Park. She believes the added police presence is a good response to Tuesday’s deadly incident.
“We do an amazing job at practicing the drills so that our students are safe,” Hube said. “We have safety measures in the classroom.”
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Some security measures that parents should also be aware of are newly implemented 24-hour surveillance around all schools, shatter-resistant glass windows and all visitors must enter through the main entrance after the school day begins.
Inside the building, some teachers are equipped with the “SaferWatch” app.
“That is monitored by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and their real time crime lab,” said Kenneth Wagner, Clay County District Schools’ chief of police. “If somebody were to submit a tip, it would generate an immediate response.”
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Wagner and safety specialist Stephen Mills said they’re always working to make improvements as technology evolves.
“I wake up every morning saying is this day the day?” Mill said. “Some people say it’ll never happen in Clay County. I can’t think that way. The chief of police can’t think that way. We try to come up with measures to make sure this stuff does not happen.”
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