District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez addresses the Mayor, City Council and City staff as they convene on Thursday, Apr. 13, 2023 for a day-long work session. During the session, the Mayor and City Council provided policy direction for service priorities for the City’s Fiscal Year 2024 Proposed Budget and Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Plan.
Kin Man Hui/Staff photographer
San Antonio Express-News
Megan Rodriguez, Staff writer
District 8 Councilman Manny Peláez wants to use city funds to prevent school shootings, but figuring out how to make that happen and what role San Antonio should play could take some time.
“If one of these horrible incidents were to happen in San Antonio, constituents will come and ask us — the mayor and City Council — ‘well, what did you guys do to prevent this,’ ” Peláez said. “Up until now, I believe that what we would do to prevent it has been an anemic approach, which is to basically hope for the best. Hope is not a strategy.”
Peláez submitted a proposal for council consideration last week — the first step in getting a policy before the full council for a vote. The speed of that process is largely determined by council committee chairs appointed by the mayor and has been known to take several months.
But Peláez is hopeful that some funds could be carved out through the budget discussion process this summer.
His proposal is vague but calls for the council to adopt and fund “an evidence-based and expert-guided mass shooting prevention and response plan for local schools.” Peláez hopes the city can help fund programs that help harden school security with physical infrastructure and technology while also addressing mental health issues and starting conversations with people about violence.
The proposal has the support of four other council members. And Peláez said City Manager Erik Walsh seems open to exploring options.
Peláez isn’t totally sure what the city can do to help or how much money could be put toward the effort, but he has a few ideas. He said the city could help pay for new technology that helps schools monitor who is entering and leaving the building. Or perhaps it could pay for more security, heavier-duty glass, cameras or sensors that detect if doors are unlocked.
And which schools would this benefit? Peláez said it might be need-based. Or maybe the city helps just one school at first to get its feet wet.
There are many unknowns, but Peláez wanted to get the ball rolling this budget cycle in the wake of the Uvalde shooting and following an incident at his daughter’s high school when the campus went on lockdown due to a shooting nearby.
“We have to be very careful about managing people’s expectations,” Peláez said. “Because the city doesn’t have the budget to be able to harden every single school in the city. But there certainly is someplace where we fit in this conversation as far as prevention. My hope is that this is the beginning of a much needed, overdue conversation.”
This week, Peláez’s staff is connecting with all districts in the city to hear from them about how the city can help.
megan.rodriguez@express-news.net