MIRAMAR, Fla. – Rehearsals are already in full swing for Miramar High's Student marching band three weeks before classes resume with tightened security.
"I think our students have really embraced the idea that this is for their safety," said Maria Formoso, principal of Miramar High School.
Formoso showed Local 10's Terrell Forney the changes. The biggest? A single point of entry for everyone. The idea is reinforced by signs and new metal entry gates.
"It's just one way into the school," Formoso said.
Some $26 million is being spent to harden all schools districtwide.
Visitors will be screened in a welcome center while students and faculty must wear their ID badges at all times.
And the 120 surveillance cameras throughout the campus have been updated, allowing administrators to monitor and record activity with the push of a button.
New locks have been installed on doors and a 6-foot-tall chain-link perimeter fence has been put up around the school.
"Even though you can't get into the school, you can get out with the pushbars," Formoso said.
Classroom doors will remain locked for the entire school day throughout the county at every facility and school administrators said they will follow these guidelines on a very strict basis.
"There's no point in putting all these features in if we're not going to make sure we utilize those assets so doors are going to be locked, gates locked. Everything is monitored throughout the day," said Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie.
The new measures follow the deadly shooting five months ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead.
The changes are countywide, though each of the 234 schools will have some minor differences.
The goal of improved safety is the same.
"There is going to be a level of inconvenience as we go through this, certainly we don't want to turn our schools into armed camps, but we're going to have to enhance security in a way we can do it smartly," Runcie said.