Tucson Standard

Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) has agreed to hire eight armed school safety employees in the wake of a mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas, according to KGUN 9.

Five of the personnel will be school safety supervisors, two will be dispatchers, and one will be a field lieutenant. These officers will train other school personnel in safety measures.

"I just want to never hear about this sort of thing happening again," Scott Thompson, a teacher at Gridley Middle School, told KGUN 9. "I feel like it could be prevented."

TUSD Board President Adelita Grijalva was less convinced.

"I don't think having more armed people on our campuses is the solution," she said. "Unfortunately, in Uvalde, there were 40 people on the lawn that were fully armed."

Thompson disagreed and advocated for more security measures.

"Strong gates, high fences, I worked at a couple of schools with bars over the windows," Thompson said. "I always felt safer when I had that. I'd like to see school resource officers on campus or TUSD school safety all the time."

The board also approved an increase in lunch fees for students, KGUN 9 reported. Students from elementary to high school will pay 20 cents more this fall for lunch and 25 cents more for breakfast.

"The price of everything is increasing, and unfortunately, TUSD is experiencing that same situation," Grijalva said.