Safety and security initiatives in Ector County ISD were highlighted during the Board of Trustees workshop Tuesday.
Todd Hiner, district police chief, has 29 licensed officers and four K-9 officers.
Many years ago, ECISD adopted the Standard Response Protocols that has been adopted by the Texas School Safety Center.
There is a School Safety and Security Committee. Each school has a threat management team and a police officer is provided for that campus, Hiner said. He added that this was implemented sometime last year.
“We’re also heavily involved in See Something, Say Something through Student Crime Stoppers,” Hiner said.
All officers trained undergo ALERRT training, the Texas School Safety Center training for active shooter response.
Officers provide local active shooter training for other agencies, as well. The ECISD Police also coordinate emergency management plans with the city and county agencies. The Odessa Police Department, Ector County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, University of Texas Permian Basin and Odessa College police also work together.
“There’s just a lot of response in our own community to the schools that we serve,” Superintendent Scott Muri said.
Standard Response Protocol is the training and drills for students and staff for lockdown procedures and it is used statewide.
Students and all staff are given training.
Muri said students are required to use clear or mesh backpacks. There is controlled access entrances, 1,500 video cameras across the district monitored by the police department, and nearly 1,000 portable radios purchased over the last couple of years to make direct contact with police and 911.
Door Bearacades are installed on every door capable classroom and school office door and weekly safety audits.
Every school is fully alarmed, Muri added.
“Sometimes we forget that we have a lot in place today to keep our kids safe,” he added. “There are lots of conversations across the state of what should we do as we think about moving forward.”
Starting Tuesday, all classroom doors are to remain locked all day, every day. That is a statewide requirement, Muri said.
A state-required test was done by the first day of school, Muri said.
“We have checked every exterior door in the entire system … Any issues they found were passed on to the maintenance department,” Muri said.
Principals were required to conduct audits as well.
Muri said an intruder audit will be conducted in September by the Region 18 Education Service Center. They will attempt to access every campus to test doors and make sure they can’t be accessed.
The ECISD Police Department will conduct weekly safety checks.
Muri said there were some “unusual doors” and they are working with the maintenance department to think through what their options may be.
Board member Carol Gregg said part of her concern is getting this information out to parents as there is a fine balance between getting parents involved and keeping them away.
“A great many of our parents don’t have picture IDs. It’s a fairly big deal among a fairly large portion of our community. I think we need to work on figuring out how to make our space more welcoming,” Gregg said.
She suggested creating an ID just for ECISD that would make it easier to get into campuses if they don’t have IDs.
Muri said many of the parents understood the measures in place today.
“There is a balance between creating a welcoming environment and keeping kids safe,” Muri said.
He added that they are going to lose some of the welcoming environment.
Gregg said ECISD needs to make this information available so people know what the district is doing and why.
“I fully expect more restrictions coming from our state, especially after the legislative session,” Muri said. “I think we need to be prepared for additional restrictions coming our way.”
Hiner said social-emotional training comes with the mandated campus training.
“It’s to identify some of those keys and dangerous types of personality traits. That’s why it’s based on teams and the collaborative effort of the team on that campus,” Hiner said.
Muri said people can make use of Crime Stoppers.
“Secondly, we have our own anonymous reporting system over and above Crime Stoppers. Tonight is really about the preventative steps that we’re taking to keep someone out of our organization,” Muri said.
Board member Tammy Hawkins said as a parent hearing that she would feel safe.
“We want them to feel safe taking their kids to school,” Hawkins said.
Also at the meeting, there was a presentation and discussion of the ECISD bullying reporting and investigation process; a quarterly update on the strategic plan; and human capital presentation.
Chris Bartlett presented on the Smart Badge Project.
A Smart Badge is a badge with an RFID chip inside it.
They started with the transportation department in May 2022 and it will continue through the 2022-23 school year at Bowie, Burleson, Goalie, Ross and San Jacinto.
Students will tap to get on the bus, ride, and scan to get off.
Upon completion, Bartlett said they would like to implement it district wide and use it for other things, as well.
“For our parents, it’s going to give them information that they don’t have today and will give them peace of mind,” Muri said.
