The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting reignited a timid conversation about gun control and violence in America. And much like 9/11, the incomprehensible act shook our national perception of security, causing a ripple effect of extreme safety measures across the country.

“School violence has been going on for years here [in L.A.],” said Jose Gallegos, 25, a graduate from Free L.A. High School in South Central. “This should not be just because of Sandy Hook.”

Gallegos works with the Youth Justice Coalition, one of the activist groups against placing more armed guards on school campuses.

The Coalition also advocates for social justice and conflict resolution programs integrated into the core curriculum.

But after the Sandy Hook tragedy, school districts like L.A. Unified are focusing more on amplifying police presence on elementary and middle schools to hopefully counteract act future school shootings than creating conflict resolution programs.

Armed guards, cameras, locked doors and on-campus weapons are making their way onto hundreds of elementary and middle school campuses and Los Angeles is no different, though some activist groups, schools and parents question the extreme measures to keep students safe.
 
And as if in response to the National Rifle Association and former education secretary Bill Bennett’s call to put armed police in every public school in America, the Los Angeles Unified School District immediately partnered with the Los Angeles Police Department, L.A. County Sheriff and other law enforcement agencies to amplify police presence on campuses after the Newtown massacre, as well as work with the Los Angeles School Police Department and local school security officers already stationed on high school campuses.
 
L.A. Unified also recently announced a new Campus Aide Special program, created and funded by L.A. Unified, which will create 1,087 new three-hour campus aide positions for elementary, middle and schools without little or no campus security.

(More: Newtown Residents Join Thousands Marching for Gun Control).
 
But activist groups, schools and parents are asking, “is this the right response?”

The Community Rights Campaign, Youth Justice Coalition, NAACP, the Alliance for Educational Justice and Dignity in our Schools Campaign and the Violence Prevention Coalition believe that that an increased visual presence of uniformed officers carrying weapons could do more harm than good for elementary and middle school students.

Some studies blame a heightened police presence for sharp decreases in student attendance, achievement, and increased citations and arrests for minor transgressions.

On the other hand, research on police presence in schools is very limited, and the public knows almost nothing about the safety effects of police in schools. Recent events however, such as the armed guard stopping a shooter at an Atlanta middle school, suggests that a bolstered armed presence at schools should be required.

But many groups like the Youth Justice Coalition argue that America cannot solely rely on security officers to curtail the rising list of school shootings. They believe there are alternatives to counteract all forms of violence -- including gun violence -- on school campuses, such as altering the curriculum, hiring counselors and integrating conflict resolution into staff training.

“We need non-violent alternatives in our schools,” said Manuel Criollo, lead organizer for the Community Rights Campaign. “Programs that move towards school-based mental health services inside schools, shifting what we teach in schools, and curricula and skill sets that focus on human rights, bullying, and resolving conflicts.”
 
The Community Rights Campaign has been urging L.A. Unified Supt. John Deasy to overturn the partnership with the L.A. Police Department, said Criollo.
 
The Los Angeles Police Department, L.A. County Sheriff's department and other law enforcement agencies have officers visiting about 500 public elementary and middle schools on a daily basis.

And though no official agreements have been signed to solidify this partnership, officers will continue to patrol schools at the start and end of each school day, as well as intermittently throughout the school day, according to L.A. Police officer Bruce Boriahanh.

(More: GOP Proposes Arming California Teachers).

Police oversaw the school's first-ever lockdown drill. Public elementary schools in Chicago are working to train security personnel, increase video surveillance, and assigning over 150 uniformed police officers to schools in the area.

(More: Teachers in Ohio and Texas Fill up Spaces at Gun Training Classes).

But Criollo argues that in large, urban school districts where real, constant violence happens on a daily basis, an anti-violence mentality needs to be integrated into the school system on multiple levels.

Gallegos, who has a background in social work, explains how seeing police on a daily basis can instill fear and distrust in students who encounter police in their homes. Students should feel emotionally, as well as physically, secure in their classrooms. That was not the case for Gallegos at his previous high school, Manuel Arts.

"We had a probation office on campus, next to the Deans' office," he said.

A statement endorsed by more than 100 national professional organizations calls for the same approach:
 
"Inclinations to intensify security in schools should be reconsidered. We cannot and should not turn our schools into fortresses.  Effective prevention cannot wait until there is a gunman in a school parking lot. We need resources such as mental health supports and threat assessment teams in every school and community so that people can seek assistance when they recognize that someone is troubled and requires help."

Some of the endorsers include the American Federation of Teachers, multiple divisions of the American Psychological Association, Child Welfare League of America, Council for Exceptional Children, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Education Association, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers and Mental Health America

But officers from the Los Angeles School Police Department say that California politicians, school administrators and parents are asking for more police to protect their students. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) proposed sending National Guard troops into schools to protect students, if needed.

“What we are receiving from parents and students is a desire for more officers on schools,” said deputy chief officer Timothy Anderson, who has worked for the L.A. School Police Department for 20 years. “They have a positive feeling when they see our presence, and our feedback has been positive.”

Some public L.A. elementary schools, like Los Feliz Elementary in Hollywood, appreciate their new police officers and think it’s the right response to the hotly debated issue of school security.

“The parents are very pleased with the new officers, it gives them a sense of security,” said Kathy Pilkinton, the principle of Los Feliz elementary school.

“We are asking teachers to keep the doors locked while school is in session,” she said.

Pilkinton also said she recently moved her kindergarten classes to the center of campus, whereas the classrooms were located on the edge campus before the shooting.

Among other new precautions, Pilkinton says parents are raising money to buy a security camera to be installed at the school entrance so the front doors will remain locked during school hours.

When asked if the curriculum has been altered to include more conflict resolution lessons, Pilkinton explained that her teachers normally address that if needed and no lesson changes have been discussed.

“Most of the changes addressing school security have been physical,” said Pilkinton. “That’s our top priority."

Police presence was strong at the start of the new semester but has since tapered off.

“Police were here up to three times a day, we even had a motorcycle cop,” she said. “Now they are here once a day, sometimes two.”

These security measures had been lightly discussed, explained Pilkington, but it was the Sandy Hook tragedy that spurred the Los Feliz’s parents and administrators into action.

Heightened school security is the new norm after the Newtown shooting. Schools across the United States are beefing up police presence and security measures on their campuses. Orange County, Fl. sheriff's deputies are working overtime to visit about 60 elementary schools in unincorporated parts of the county, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Elementary schools in Wisconsin began new security drills and started to close their entryways after the Newtown massacre. Maple Dale School in Milwaukee entered a new era of security protocols when its 300 students returned to school earlier this month, according to the Journal Sentinel.

(More: Biden Discusses Gun Control with Mayors).

Rebecca George, a L.A. Unified parent, charter school founder, education consultant and former LAUSD teacher, is struggling with the idea that her two elementary school daughters will now see police officers on a regular basis.

“As a parent I feel really mixed about it, to have such an armed society, what’s next?” said George. “It’s a really hard question to answer.”

But it is not the police that George necessarily has a problem with, but the fact that they are armed.

“I think a visible police presence at a school site is a great thing, I just have mixed feelings about the guns,” she said. “I just want wonder if we are doing everything we can as a district to educate our staff on how to stay safe.”

But as a school administrator, George knows that safety is the number one priority for parents, and many parents now feel safer dropping their children off at school in the presence of an armed guard or security officer.

At George’s charter school, The City School, parents now see a police officer every day and have to call first before being allowed to enter the school campus.

After Sandy Hook, George hired a security expert to come in and evaluate her middle school. The City School now keeps its doors locked, has “one way in" and "one way out” and insists every visitor wear a security badge.

However, George also says that conflict resolution should be woven into lesson plans.

The City School’s curriculum encompasses a character education and advisory program. Her staff meets about four times a week to discuss new ways to aid the social and emotional development of their students. George believes conflict resolution is paramount to a well-rounded education, and it’s the staff’s job to teach them.

“Education for staff and parents on what to do when in a dangerous situation makes me feel safer than a police officer,” said George. “Social change is created through education, and it needs to be accepted and executed district-wide.”

The bigger question for George and other groups concerning school safety is how to make all students, no matter their background, feel emotionally and physically secure.

“What else can we do to make kids feel safe?” asked George. “What does it mean to feel supported, to have the right counselors and emotionally stability? That changed after Sandy Hook."

Administrators and other students at Free L.A. High School, a continuation school founded by the Youth Justice Coalition and Jon Muir Charter School, have a few answers.

“Police officers make so many assumptions about students in South L.A.,” said Kruti Parekh, Program Coordinator for the Youth Justice Coalition and Free L.A. High School.

“Tattoos mean gang affiliations, which means criminal activity, etc., so it becomes an adversarial relationship between students and police when it’s supposed to be a partnership.”

(More: South L.A. High School Gives Dropouts Another Chance).

Unlike Newtown, Conn., L.A. Unified's sprawling district encompasses 660,000 students, 80 percent of which come from low income neighborhoods with high crime rates. Thousands of students encounter violence on a regular basis but are not taught ways to cope with it, says Parekh, and schools should be that resource.

Parekh advocates for a district-wide intervention model that trains staff and teachers to handle conflict through communication and other workshops. If school staff were taught to deescalate conflicts and aggressively handle bullying, horrible acts of violence like Sandy Hook could be prevented in their earliest stages, according to Parekh.

L.A. Police Department citation data from 2009-2011 show that youth ages 19 and younger received almost 34,000 citations for minor infractions, such as daytime curfew, littering and disturbing the peace. In 2011, children 14 or younger were issued 43 percent of the nearly 10,200 tickets school police handed out.

In one case, 23 children 10 or under received a citation for disturbing the piece. 11 elementary school children were given citations for coming to school late.

The bulk of these students were Latino and African American.

These numbers result in dropout rates at inner-city schools because students feel unsafe or unwelcome, said Parekh.

Two other Free L.A. High graduates Anthony Smith, 19, and Jose Solis, 21, are also too familiar with police presence on school campuses. Each had dropped out of different high schools in L.A. Unified with their own campus police.

“They stereotyped certain youth, like if you were wearing a white T-shirt or were three in a group,” said Gallegos. “And if you were late, even by two minutes, they would round you up and give you truancy tickets.”

Smith shared similar experiences and said he witnessed police intervene in issues that should have been first addressed by school administrators.  He asked why schools need school security and school police.

“We already have school security officers in place and now they are doubling it up and we don’t need that,” said Smith. “I don’t think more police will help little kids, especially ones who have had bad experiences with police in their homes and communities.”

Many elementary school students in Los Angeles come from neighborhoods with high gang activity and even come from generations of gang members, according to Gallegos. Inner-city youth have been traumatized by constant exposure violence, like gang interactions, guns drugs and witnessing the arrests of their family members at an early age.

“We need another answer to violence,” said Solis, “like after-school programs, peer mediation and conflict resolution classes.”

Like The City School, Free L.A. High School incorporates social justice and conflict resolution into its core curriculum. Approaching math and science classes through different lenses, such as racism, sex trafficking immigration and public policy.

If there is a conflict on campus, administrators handle the issue and only call the police as a last resort.

A  2007 study by the Research in Middle Level Education assessed conflict resolution training and found it was one of the most effective violence reduction programs in schools.

Almost 100 shootings have occurred since the 2007 study was published, explaining the obvious shift in the school safety discussion from conflict resolution to armed guards and metal detectors. But Newton, CT., at the top of the list, is bringing conflict resolution programs, student communication and mediation curriculum back into the conversation.

“We need to handle conflict in a positive and peaceful way when young people mess up in school at the very beginning,” said Parekh. “That’s how you need to be smart on crime.”

And with more than 1500 people killed by guns since Newtown, the call for other violence-prevention proposals is more than pressing.

“We need to be more innovative in teaching kids how to express themselves,” said George. “We need to train them for the real world.”

The one thing that all activists groups, schools, administrators, parents and students agree upon, however, is that America and its leaders need to look at the entire picture, and that starts with education.

Read more of Neon Tommy's gun control coverage in schools here.

Reache Editor At Large Brianna Sacks here.