List of Possible School Security Upgrades After Governor's Meeting

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had a list of possible school security upgrades after a meeting at his office Tuesday with school and government officials.

The meeting came just days after the high school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas that killed 10 people.

"We all share a common goal, to make sure we protect innocent lives in the State of Texas," Abbott, a Republican, said as the meeting began.

It was scheduled for 90 minutes but lasted more than two hours. Several people, who said they were skeptical about the session, left encouraged that they had made progress.

"I was very pleasantly surprised," Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said. "I thought we were going to be talked into things. It was very wide open. A couple of those suggestions were mine actually."

Democratic Texas Senator John Whitmire from Houston is Chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

"I think it was very meaningful," Whitmire said. "That’s the message I would like to emphasize."

Abbott listed behavioral health counseling, social media monitoring, coordination of first responders, threat assessment intervention teams and metal detectors as potential areas to improve school security without new laws.

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath was to work on additional refinement of the ideas and potential state funding improvements.

"I learned far more than I thought I was going to learn during the course of this," Abbott said.

Authorities said Friday’s tragedy was the work of a student who brought his father's guns to school, hidden in a long coat.

"Parents are partly responsible for this and they need to be held accountable for it," Abbott said.

The Governor will meet Wednesday with people on the issue of gun control and Friday with relatives and victims of gun violence.

Abbott refused to say whether he will support a special session of the Texas Legislature, as some lawmakers have asked for, to consider new laws. The Governor said it is too soon to say whether that will be useful.