SALINAS, Calif. -- Central Coast News went to find out what local school districts think about armed guards on campuses in light of President Barack Obama's sweeping package Wednesday to address gun violence.
Terry Ryan, director of Facilities for the Salinas City Elementary School District, said the district currently has various security elements in place to keep the campuses, like Laurelwood, safe.
"We made the determination that our limited resources for more and better security is provided by the systems that we have in place," he said.
Those systems in place include: perimeter security, access control throughout the campus, keeping the gates locked, and safe-classroom locks.
With having these in place, and limited funds, district officials said they do just fine without security guards.
"If those resources are funded, then we would definitely support it," Ryan said.
Other school districts in Salinas, like Santa Rita Union, said the administration deals with so many issues as it is that having armed guards would help take some of the pressure away.
But the Pajaro Valley Unified School District said armed guards lack the training needed to deal with thousands of kids at a time.
Officials believe students would feel more comfortable with police officers on campus, which they already have at two high schools.
PVUSD said it would like to add the school resource officers to middle schools, as well, but it doesn't have the money.
All school districts Central Coast News spoke to said if they had more resources, they would get more security on campuses.
