L.A. Unified filling security jobs created after Newtown shooting
The Los Angeles Unified School District has hired more than 750 of the 1,000 security aides it decided to employ after the mass shooting last year at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.
The aides, equipped with radios, keep watch during school hours, reporting potential threats and other problems to administrators, district spokesman Tom Waldman said.
The district announced in January that it would spend about $4 million to hire 1,087 aides. The move followed the December shooting deaths of 26 people, including 20 first-graders, at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
After the shooting, L.A. Unified’s police force and local law enforcement partners increased their presence and patrols around campuses to ease fear and anxiety. That additional presence has continued, Waldman said.
About 440 aides have been assigned to roughly 325 schools. An additional 320 have been hired but have not been screened and cleared to begin work. Those aides should be assigned to schools in the coming weeks.
The district has more than 600 applicants for the remaining positions and hopes to fill the spots in the next few months, Waldman said.
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