BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — Just days after the gunman responsible for the Apalachee High School shooting was sentenced to life in prison, students returned to campus Friday for the first day of school, a day filled with emotion, reflection, and a renewed focus on safety.
The first school bell rang, cars filled the campus again, and a familiar morning routine resumed at a school forever changed.
For families connected to the tragedy, the emotions surrounding the first day back remain complicated. Layla Renee Contreras’ mother and sister were inside Apalachee High School when four lives were lost.
“It’s been a roller coaster of emotions,” Contreras said.
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The school year began with students walking into new classrooms and a campus with an increased security presence.
Barrow County Schools said it has spent the past year expanding safety measures, including increasing the number of school resource officers from 15 last September to 21 today.
“We want our community to see the work that’s being done so that they have confidence that we are putting safety first in all that we do,” Barrow County Deputy Superintendent Matt Thompson said.
The district has also invested in additional security measures, including weapons detection technology and detailed digital school mapping.
Thompson said the goal is to make students, staff, and families feel safe while they are on campus.
“When you send them off in the morning, you’re trusting that the school system is going to keep them safe and that they’re going to come home,” Thompson said.
District leaders said the expanded safety plan will eventually include two school resource officers at each high school and one at each middle school.
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