The day after a school shooting in south Florida claimed 17 lives, San Antonio area schools made counselors available for students and staff in case they needed support. Officials with KIPP and the Edgewood, Alamo Heights, Southside, and San Antonio independent school districts all said counselors were on hand, although they didn’t hold events or group discussions.
“Counselors and school administration are on alert and ready to counsel students and staff as needed, while also working to retain that sense of normalcy and structure that is needed in a time like this,” San Antonio ISD spokesperson Leslie Price said. “Students have been made aware that counselors are there for them.”
Counselors are also available at Floresville ISD, where students and teachers are working through their own grief after losing several of their own to the shooting in Sutherland Springs.
“We have ongoing grief and trauma counseling,” Floresville communications director Kim Cathey said. “Just because everyone has left and no one is talking about what happened in Sutherland Springs, that doesn’t mean that it still doesn’t affect our people.”
Cathey said losing children inside the school itself is a tragedy she can only imagine, but she knows a little of what Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is going through.
“We’re keeping those folks in our thoughts and in our prayers, and we hope the best for their healing and that people will give them the space that they need to do that,” Cathey said.
After the church shooting, San Antonio area districts said they were as prepared as they could be for the possibility of an armed intruder, although every situation is different.
Now, some districts are again taking a look at their safety protocols.
“As a result of the Florida shooting, Southside High School is planning further emergency response drills, and also all of our teachers at the high school will be brief on the latest security measures, and all of that will be happening within the next week,” Southside ISD spokesperson Randy Escamilla said.
According to South San Antonio communications director Jocelyn Durand, the district’s police department is taking part in a previously scheduled active shooter training on Monday.
Camille Phillips can be reached at Camille@tpr.org or on Twitter @cmpcamille
