Ontario is beefing up elementary-school security in the wake of the deadly shooting last week in Newtown, Conn., earmarking $10 million for front door locks, entry buzzer systems and security cameras.

“It’s an appropriate and a reasonable response,” Premier Dalton McGuinty said Thursday at a Catholic school near Keele St. and Highway 401.

The money builds on a 2005 effort that saw 850 of the province’s 4,000 elementary schools get funding for similar measures. The Newtown tragedy has raised questions as to whether Ontario has taken “all reasonable measures,” he added.

But a safety expert questioned whether the measures will go far enough, given what happened in Newtown, where 20 pupils were among the gunman’s victims.

Locking doors is only “one piece of the puzzle” in keeping students safe, warned Stu Auty, chair of the Canadian Safe Schools Network.

“It's a dance between electronics and early intervention — remember, the shooter at Sandy Hook blasted his way into the building,” said Auty, stressing the importance of teaching children right from wrong when they’re young and watching for “early signs of going in the wrong direction.”

“We have about seven years to turn that around before they end up in the never-never land of the justice system,” he added, noting that a child who resists authority in Grade 1 may, if he doesn’t change, be poised for criminal activity by the age of 13.

McGuinty said applications from schools will be taken in January, with hopes of having all security renovations finished by the time school resumes next September.

It’s not known exactly how many schools are operating without secure door-lock systems to screen visitors, but the $10 million allocated should “cover the waterfront” in getting all schools upgraded.

McGuinty made the announcement at St. Fedelis Catholic Elementary School, avoiding any tangles with the public school system, where the Elementary Teachers Federation has been holding daily rotating strikes to protest Bill 115,, which freezes teacher pay and limits their collective bargaining rights as the province struggles to axe a $14.4 billion deficit.

While the general practice across the Toronto District School Board is to keep all school doors locked, 70 per cent of its 474 elementary schools already have a “secure access system” at the front door. It includes a video camera, intercom, a buzzer or a combination of those features, said board spokesperson Ryan Bird.

“We welcome the news of more funding; it will help ensure the remaining schools have those features,” he said. Sources note it costs about $10,000 for install a video camera system at a school.

New Democrat MPP Peter Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth) hailed the new money for school safety as “a small step most parents will support,” but said emotionally troubled children still need more help.