Montrose students start petition for security increase

After the deadly shooting massacre at a high school in Florida two week ago, some students from Montrose High School are taking safety into their own hands.

Sabrina Slaughter and Rosemary Wagner, both sophomores, started a petition asking for more security guards at Montrose High School.

"It's so prevalent now,” said Slaughter.

Students say a threat to school safety is nothing new. Hearing about the threats around the state is what scares them most.

"There's been so many just this year, that everyone is terrified,” she said.

"What am I sending my child into, is she going to come home at night?” said Nathan Slaughter Sabrina's father.

"After the Florida shooting, we were terrified to come to school so we were both freaking out and we were texting each other saying we need to start a petition we need our school to be safer,” said Sabrina said.

The goal of that petition is to get armed protection on Montrose High School’s campus

“We have it open to our entire community,” said Wagner.

"We want some security guards, preferably veterans. I know there has been some talk about arming teachers," Slaughter said. "Most of us kids and teachers don't feel comfortable with that. So we would rather have someone who has the experience to be there with a gun."

In just 24 hours, the girls received about 100 signatures.

"I'm extremely proud they're not just sitting on the couch watching it happening they are standing up and doing something,” said Nathan Slaughter.

The girls want as many people to sign the petition before they meet with school administrators.

"We welcome our student input, we will encourage input and we want to work together with our students and our community regarding school safety. It is a major concern,” said Montrose County School District RE-J1’s Superintendent Stephen Schiell.