NC school system upgrades security at 50 schools

FAYETTEVILLE (AP) A North Carolina school system plans to finish security upgrades at all 52 public elementary schools before school starts next month.

Cumberland County’s assistant superintendent for auxiliary services, Tim Kinlaw, tells the Fayetteville Observer that the school system’s 18 middle schools and 17 high schools will be finished during the year. The projects were originally scheduled to be completed in three years but were accelerated to be done within 12 months after the mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school in February.

Kinlaw says the security upgrades — which include buzzers, cameras and controlled access — are meant to buy time for school staff to put the campus in lockdown and protect students. He compared the security changes to those implemented at airports and courthouses.