Dallas School superintendent Mike Miles says the district is looking to increase school security in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings. He appeared Monday on KERA’s talk show Think, and admits he's learned some tough lessons after last week's internal audit of his hiring practices.
Miles told host Krys Boyd that a task force is recommending more ways to control how people enter schools.
“One of the things the task force identified for us to invest in is to think about the access point -- how you get into a school -- and to ensure that there’s a way to limit that access, but also have a buzz-in system where somebody comes to the door, we see their picture, and then we hit a button and that unlocks the door. Right now we leave one door open so people can come into the school.”
Miles says all secondary schools have metal detectors and the task force just finished looking at security in all 147 elementary schools.
He also says the lessons are clear after last week's internal audit. Several members of recently hired cabinet resigned; one for allegedly filing a phony reimbursement receipt for a non-existent moving company.
"One of the things I've learned is that Dallas is a lot larger urban district, and that presents different problems of scale, but also politics and history. And so I've spent a lot of time and need to do a better job of learning that, learning the history of Dallas, learning the city, learning the district. There's a lot more of it here in Dallas than where I came from. That's important for me to learn."
Miles also stressed the growing importance of parental involvement in a child's education.
