This weekend La Joya ISD will start installing surveillance cameras in their elementary schools.
Both high schools and middle schools already have them, but the district said recent activity near elementary schools has them installing there.
The district tells us La Joya ISD has lockdowns weekly at different schools across the district, and they hope these cameras will help deter crime away from the elementary schools.
It was just a few weeks ago that Henry B. Gonzalez Elementary School was in a lockdown after a suspect shot at Palmview police right in front of the school.
“We have seen some situations that we need to take care of so that we can protect our kids from external potential risks,” said Raul Gonzalez the La Joya ISD police chief.
Other schools nearby were also in lockdown while police searched for the suspect.
"We have had those types of situations so is there a risk that we are concerned with? Yes, and that's why we are doing some of these things so that we can prevent the possibility of kids being harmed because of police operations in the area," said Gonzalez.
La Joya ISD high schools and middle schools already have cameras installed but "it's gotten to the point that elementary schools need them as well," said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said surveillance cameras will act as a deterrent and help with police efforts.
"We want to make sure that parents understand that we are not doing this because things are happening inside the school. We are doing this as a preventative measure and also to make sure that if anything happens, we have some resources to go back and review things that we need to work on," said Gonzalez.
The district will also start restricting parents access to the elementary schools as well.
They'll no longer be able to escort their children to their classrooms.
Instead they'll have to drop children off at designated areas and staff will escort the children.
"Why we are doing this is for the overall accountability as to who's inside our campuses in the morning," said Gonzalez.
The district will start installing the cameras during the weekend.
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