It's been a year since the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Last year on May 24, a gunman emerged from a crashed truck outside of Robb Elementary School wearing body armor and armed with an AR-15. It would be more than an hour after the shooting started until the gunman was taken out. The 18-year-old gunman and former student of the elementary school killed 19 children and two teachers.
Madison City School's Superintendent Ed Nichols said they have a lot of plans to continue efforts in keeping students safe. According to Nichols, Madison City Schools will have new emergency alert badges for all staff and secured entrances come the fall semester, but he does not want that to stop the community from being involved.
"We still want parents to be involved, we still want to have guest speakers from the community, but we do need to control the access of our schools and those types of things," Nichols said. "I regret we're in that environment today, and we're not like we were 30 years ago, but we're not."
Nichols said they are also working to hire more security and school resource officers in the coming school year.
Thirteen years ago, a student at Discovery Middle School in Madison shot and killed his classmate - 14-year-old Todd Brown. Cortez Nance, a former student of Discovery, said he played freshman football with Brown. And the day Brown was shot and killed in a school hallway started as a typical day - he had been in math class with the shooter just moments before it happened. Nance says his nephew will be attending Discovery soon, and he has already given him some advice.
"He's a kid that doesn't bother anyone," Nance said. "He goes to school; he plays; helps out anyone who he can help out, so just the best advice I can give him is to keep your head on a swivel."
Nance thought a book hit the ground or a balloon popped when the shot went off - until everyone started running. Nance said he passed the principal at the time as he ran, and she kept asking students, "Why are you running? What is going on?"
Nance said it was utterly unexpected and recalled attending Brown's funeral.
"Being at the funeral looking at his mom crying, shedding tears, knowing that no parent wants to bury their child," Nance said.
Todd Brown's killer is serving a 30 sentence in the state penitentiary.
