Districts Get Bold on School Security

Retired state trooper Les Strawbridge patrols the halls at Butler Intermediate High School in Butler, Pa. The district accelerated efforts to arm school resource officers within days of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings.

—Michael S. Williamson/Washington Post/Getty

Some schools arming volunteers, staff

By Nirvi Shah

President Barack Obama's announcement last week of a wide-ranging anti-violence plan in response to the Newtown, Conn., school shootings comes as many districts are adopting new and sometimes dramatic measures—including arming teachers and volunteers—intended to prevent similar tragedies in their own schools.

School safety experts warn against making major changes to security procedures without thinking those changes through. But in many communities, people say not taking action after the deadliest K-12 shootings in American history is just not an option.

"We started thinking about it right away," said Angela Bono-Severy, the president of the PTA at Tanglewood Elementary School in Lumberton, N.C. "The weekend of the shootings, I received phone calls and text messages from at least a dozen different parents asking, 'What...