The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut have sparked a growing conversation about whether public school teachers should be armed.
Before becoming the head of schools in Indiana and Florida Tony Bennett was a teacher. And that's how he's approaching the issue.
"I'm not going to speak as the education commissioner, I'm going to speak as a former science teacher who loved what I did every day teaching science. I didn't get up in the morning to teach science with ever believing I would need to carry a gun.It's Bennett first week as Florida's education commissioner. And he says he will be involved in the debate over whether teachers should carry firearms.
"It is something that I want to have a very intense discussion about in Florida because again it saddens me that the ills of society have spilled over into our day-to-day life in schools that we are even having this conversation", said Bennett.
Other suggested school safety measures include increased security and adding panic buttons and locks to classroom doors.
The head of the Florida School Boards Association says school security upgrades could cost $100 million this year.