TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- Deputies are now posted at every elementary school in Leon County.
The decision - and the money to pay for it - were approved just two weeks before opening bell.
Kristen Coe was picking up her daughter at school Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised to see a deputy out front.
"I love them being here," Coe said. "The added security makes me feel better as a parent and I know it probably makes the students feel a lot more safe and secure."
School resource officers have been assigned to Leon County's middle and high schools for years.
This year - for the first time - each elementary school will have a deputy on duty.
"After the shooting at Sandy Hook, that changed me forever and so I've been wanting this ever since," said Sealey Elementary School Principal Demetria Clemons. "You just never know ... this day and age ... it's great we're able to have a deputy in our schools."
When we stopped by Sealey Elementary, a marked patrol car was parked out front and deputy Teresa Howard was greeting students.
"Not only for the school staff but for the parents," SGT Howard said, "that they feel more secure when they're kids are at school. They don't have to worry about anything happening or someone coming on campus and starting anything."
Howard - and the other sworn deputies - will be spending a half day at one elementary school and a half day at another. Eight deputies in all will be covering 16 elementary schools.
It'll cost the district about 350-thousand dollars.
"I think they're needed at all schools because you never know what could happen," parent Shyde Moore said.
"With today's events that are going on, it might not be a bad idea to take the extra precautions," parent Kristen Coe said.
The school district says the deputies are paid 32 dollars an hour.
LCSO says they are fully sworn and outfitted. That includes a gun, taser, baton and pepper spray.
The deputies, LCSO says, did receive some additional training before going to work in the elementary schools.
Watch the story on the WCTV website HERE.