LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The summer's deadly school shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde relaunched the nationwide conversation on school safety and also prompted Governor Hutchinson to reinstate the school safety commission.
Since then, schools in Arkansas have continued to push for increased safety.
Little Rock School District Security Director, Ron Self, has been actively working to add extra security measures in their schools.
"We felt that it was time and we need to take every step that we can to make sure that students are safe," Self explained.
Self added that when there's more crime in the city, that tends to cause more crime in schools— This prompted the LRSD school board to approve a specific kind of metal detector for school doors.
"The way things are going in the city and as well as the two actual firearms that were found on the central campuses and the numerous facsimile firearms that were found that it was just time," Self said.
So far LRSD explained that they've seen a lot of support for the weapon detectors, and North Little Rock schools have also seen the same when they installed the systems a few months ago.
"Something that has the metal consistency of a firearm will make it go off," Hayward Finks, the Director of NLRSD Safety Services, said.
Finks added that besides some growing pains, it's been a success, but they're always looking to make things more secure.
"We have recently started training for a behavioral threat assessment team," Finks added.
That change came from Governor Hutchinson's school safety commission.
Dr. Cheryl May led the group this summer, as she actively worked to recommend school security improvements statewide.
"We view these not just as recommendations, but as best practices. I think the schools want to do as much as they possibly can. But you know, our schools have limited resources," May explained.
While some central Arkansas school districts have been continually working to develop their security measures, others have found themselves waiting on the $50 million in school safety funding that was approved by Governor Hutchinson months ago.
"These these things take time...[stakeholders] have been working very, very, very diligently on being able to get these rules completed," May added.
Those rules would dictate how a school could spend that money, and some Arkansas schools have already made lists for that funding.
"Additional cameras and other things that we would like to see some of their funding assistance with," Finks added.
Self also explained that security is top of mind, and added, "Security is not just when an incident happens, security in the security department is every day."