Following the Uvalde shooting, police presence at Nashville schools will be at ‘highest levels ever’

The Metro Nashville Police Department is amping up security across all schools in the city until further notice.

High schools will have at least two permanent school resource officers, and magnets will have regular visits. A few middle schools have permanent SROs, and others will have rotating coverage.

But, the biggest change is to elementary schools.

Superintendent Adrienne Battle has said emphatically that she does not want armed officers inside elementary schools in Nashville.

Under this new plan, there will be armed officers on patrol outside of elementary schools in the mornings, but not inside.

“I think this is an appropriate balance between the desire for added security and safety and collaboration with the police department, while not risking the criminalization of childhood behavior by using a policing response to incidents instead of our restorative approach,” Battle says.

And, MNPS plans to hire for a new position in elementary schools, called a school safety ambassador.

“[They] will be MNPS employees who are unarmed but given a radio frequency and will work closely with school security and police to ensure safety at the elementary schools,” explains Police Chief John Drake. “I’ve also sent a letter out to all of our retired officers ask[ing] them to consider applying to be a school safety ambassador.”

The plan is to hire 70 school safety ambassadors. The district also has 22 school resource officer vacancies right now.

Filling all these positions is likely to be a challenge. Both the police department and the school system are facing staffing shortages.

Between officer overtime and hiring for the new positions, it’s estimated that this security plan will cost between $5 and $6 million.