Parkland, Fla., students getting clear backpacks after security scares

March 22 (UPI) -- Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., will only be able to use clear backpacks following security threats in the wake of last month's mass shooting there.

Broward County Superintendent of Schools Robert Runcie said Wednesday in a letter sent to parents that each student will get a free clear backpack when they get back from spring break, CNN reported.

"Clear backpacks are the only backpacks that will be permitted on campus," Runcie wrote in the letter to families on Wednesday.

At all its schools, the district is also "requiring students and staff to wear identification badges while on campus" and "locking classroom doors at all times" another recent letter from Runcie on the district's website states. The district also plans to update surveillance cameras at all its schools by June.

The state's recently enacted School Safety Bill offers the district with additional resources to increase security, Runcie said.

The state will provide the school district about $6 million to expand mental health services starting next year and another $8.5 million to pay for one school resource officer at each school, Runcie wrote.

The security uptick came about in the wake of the Feb. 14 shooting at the school that killed 17 people and subsequent security scares in the district.

Those incidents include a Broward County Sheriff's Office report of a student making a threat on the social media site Snapchat on Tuesday and a now-suspended sheriff's deputy allegedly falling asleep in a marked patrol car on campus on Monday.

In separate incidents, authorities said two students were arrested for allegedly bringing knives to school this week.