A week after an incident at Permian High School where a student brought a 9mm handgun to campus, Ector County ISD Superintendent Scott Muri is asking parents and guardians to review what items students can and cannot bring to school.
The 15-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with Places Weapons Prohibited, which is a state felony.
“Moms and dads, we encourage you to have conversations with your children about the items that are permitted to bring to school and those that are not. We also ask our parents to have conversations with their children about basic rules of school,” Muri said during his media call Wednesday.
“We have a student Code of Conduct and it’s important that our family members walk through that Code of Conduct with children to make sure that the kids know and understand the expectations for behavior that we have for them while they’re in our school environment,” Muri added.
He said ECISD also is encouraging parents to talk to their children about saying something when they see something.
“I really have to commend our students and staff members currently in ECISD. When our folks and students and staff members see something, they say something. They tell a teacher; they tell an administrator; they tell a law enforcement officer. That helps us keep our kids safe during the school day, as well as our staff members. We would like to invite our parents to have those conversations with children just to remind them that when they see something that makes them uncomfortable or unsafe in the school environment that they not keep that to themselves; that they say something and report,” what they see to a teacher or administrator, Muri said.
If you want to remain anonymous, ECISD has a “great relationship” with Crime Stoppers, which provides a way for students, staff members or parents to remain anonymous.
“You can text message; you can email them; you can call them. All those forms of communication remain anonymous. We have Crime Stoppers posters located in every campus in ECISD. We also have their information on the ECISD website. By working with our students, staff members, family and members of the community, we will ensure that our kids remain safe at all times while they’re on school campus. And again, we’re doing things as a school system to ensure that everybody is safe. It takes all of us working together to ensure a 100 percent that our kids remain safe throughout the school day …,” Muri said.
He added that there is no new information on the incident. Muri said the investigation is ongoing.
The next step in the process from the school district perspective is that the administrators at PHS will conduct an investigation and make a recommendation to the principal. Muri said the principal will make a recommendation to the district as to what should happen to that student.
“Then we’ll follow the Code of Conduct. In the state of Texas, there are specific parameters when a student brings a weapon on campus. The state of Texas really defines pretty narrowly what the consequences to those students are. So we follow our student Code of Conduct when providing consequences for that particular individual,” Muri said.
The Code of Conduct is available on the ECISD website and in hard copy in English and Spanish.
He added that safety and security will continue to be a conversation that ECISD has as a system.
“We should constantly talk about ways to improve the environment of our kids and if there are things we can do organizationally to improve then we certainly will take those steps,” Muri said.
He added that police have done an after-action report.
“… I read through that and talked with our officers … (and) just really commended the students and staff members at Permian for the exceptional way they handled this situation,” Muri said.
He added that the district is very appreciative of the law enforcement that responded Aug. 26.
“We had OPD; we had UTPB; we had Odessa College; our own police force, as well as DPS on site, so great coordination on the part of all the officers,” Muri said.
Police officers were to meet this week to debrief on the situation and talk about communication, tactics and everything in between, plus whether any improvements can be made.
On a separate item, Muri said the Labor Day holiday is Monday so there is no school and there is an early release day next week for students.
The calendar is available on the district website at ectorcountyisd.org.
Asked about the change in leadership at Midland ISD with Superintendent Angelica Ramsey being named the lone finalist for the Fort Worth ISD superintendent’s job, Muri said he congratulates Ramsey.
“I know that Midland ISD is very sad to see her go. She’s been a great leader in our community and (I) appreciated being her colleague in the Permian Basin. I wish her well and know that the community of Fort Worth … has a great superintendent coming in. She’ll serve them very well,” Muri said.
