Thursday St. Tammany Parish students head back to class and for the first time a school resource officer will be in every school. Parents say they're relieved to add another level of security to classrooms.
"We all feel a lot better knowing there's someone there to protect them," parent Amanda Jones said. Her daughter goes to Mandeville High School, which already had a school resource officer in place. Jones says that officer made sure her daughter felt safe after an incident in the school.
"She was threatened before, we actually had to go to the police before and file a police report and it was someone she went to school with," Jones said. "The resource officer wanted to meet us to reassure us and her that she was safe at school."
After the Parkland mass shooting the school board voted to place an armed school resource officer and a mental health counselor in every school. While parents say this step puts them more at ease, Covington Police Chief Tim Lentz warns having school resource officers in place hasn't always prevented tragedies in the past.
"If you look at some of the incidents across the United States they had resource officers in the school and bad things still happened," Lentz said.
Lentz says the officers are just one of many steps taken to increase school security measures.
"This is a deterrent, it gives the students a level of comfort and a safe environment to learn," Lentz said.
St. Tammany superintendent Trey Folse hopes the counselors will be the first defense.
"If someone is reaching out or crying out for help and we can help them and avoid anything happening at the same time it's certainly a win for everyone," Folse said.
Staffing every school with a resource officer and a mental health counselor will cost $4 million. The school board is footing the majority of that bill.