Miami-Dade County Asks 'How Safe Are Our Schools?'

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It has been exactly one week since the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland and now officials in Miami-Dade are questioning how safe are schools here?

That was the topic at County Hall Wednesday morning as commissioners opened their weekly commission meeting with a prayer and a reading of the names of each of the 17 victims who died in the school shooting.

It was Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo who asked, "How safe are our schools?"

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez quickly responding, "They are safe but they could be safer."

Miami-Dade County Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who just returned from Tallahassee where he had a high-level conversation with Governor Rick Scott on issues securing our schools, was also at the meeting and addressed the commission.

"We have taken unprecedented actions in a collaborative way to advocate for this specifically. Thirty-million dollars of immediate funding to achieve a number of things," said Carvalho. The $30-million the superintendent is asking from the legislature are funds that will help rush an addition to the $1.2 billion bond referendum.

He says they will work on illuminating multiple points of access to the schools, install doors that lock automatically from the inside; invest in security systems as well as cyber software to check social media.

Gun control was also a main topic of conversation for Superintendent Carvalho who said it was his top priority when he met with Governor Scott in Tallahassee.

Miami-Dade police say they have stepped up security at every single school and they are doing all they can to make sure all 355,000 students are safe.

The Superintendent says they are doing all they can but they cannot do it alone and they need the community to help and to remember, if you see something unusual be sure to say something.