Local parents question school safety policies after deadly mass shooting in Texas

The deadly mass shooting that claimed the lives of at least 19 children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas is on the minds of many parents in Southern California. 

The chatter on the playground outside Carpenter Elementary in Studio City had a festive feel, but the conversations by parents around it were etched in fear.

"I couldn't even imagine dropping my kid off and that being the last time you see them," said Crystal Bay.

Parents could help but feel the range of emotions that come with hearing that children died. 

"I think it speaks to a deeper problem in society," said Daniel Taylor, a parent. "What society is producing a teenager to do that?"

Another mass shooting, this time at an elementary school, dominates the headlines and has many questioning policies. 

"These tragedies are unsustainable — when is enough enough?" said LAUSD Superintendent Albert Carvalho. 

Carvalho says prayers aren't enough.

"We need to remove the tools — at least from the hands of people who are unstable, who should never have access to guns in our community — if we fail to do that, then we fail to protect our kids," said Carvalho.

The Los Angeles Unified School district has implemented safety perimeters around schools and is focusing its officers in the neighborhoods, so children feel safe getting to class. But school police officers are taking more than 130,000 calls a year —  mostly about potential school threats.

"What we often rely on is — you see something, you say something — so students will often times share if they feel something is unsafe," said LAUSD School Board President Kelly Gonez.

The district says more must be done, especially when it comes to mental health.

"Reducing the counselor to student ratio is critically important," said Carvalho. "Time after time, from Columbine to Parkland to today's incident, there were early signs of behaviors and manifestations that could lead to catastrophic violence."

The LAUSD Police Department says that in the first one hundred days of the current school year alone, they've recovered more than five hundred items that they consider dangerous weapons.  

"As parents we want to know that our kids are safe going to school," said Bay.