With recent shooting tragedies at campuses in Texas and nationwide, Ector County ISD Superintendent Scott Muri said he wants to remind families of some of the processes that are in place and also inform families of some adjustments being made for school safety.
“We are right now in the process of undergoing a safety audit. Every single campus in ECISD is currently being audited to make sure our safety processes, procedures and systems are in place,” Muri said.
“The initial audit is currently being conducted by the ECISD Police Department. Those officers are visiting every school in ECISD to take care of some basic safety considerations …,” he added.
The audit is underway now and will be completed by the start of school, Muri said.
He added that he wants to remind all families that the district requires students carry either a clear or mesh backpack.
“… We do not allow backpacks that are not either clear or mesh, so once again as you are beginning to make those back-to-school purchases, make sure, parents, that you are looking for clear backpacks or backpacks that are made of mesh. Those are the requirements at the elementary, middle and high school levels,” Muri said.
He also wants to remind community members that ECISD has its own police force.
“We do not have security guards. We have fully licensed and certified police officers and a chief of police that manages that police force,” Muri said. “You’ll find officers stationed every day at our middle schools and high schools and then officers on patrol every day at our elementary schools. Our officers do a great job of ensuring that our students and staff members remain safe. We have secure access for all of our buildings. All of our campus doors are locked throughout the day. … In order to enter any one of our campuses, we require an identification. If you’re a staff member, that electronic identification will allow you easy access to our campuses, but if you’re not a staff member, whether you’re a parent or a visitor, we require that you display your identification, either your driver’s license or some other proof of identification, before we allow admittance to our buildings. So once again, that secure access is another way that we keep our kids safe,” Muri said.
There also are “several thousand” security cameras at each school.
“… Those cameras can not only be monitored at the school level, but they can be monitored by our police officers. So once again, those cameras are located on every single campus that we own … We train our staff members and students on what to do in emergency situations. Our students participate on a monthly basis in regular trainings. We ensure that those trainings are done … so that all of our kids pre-k through 12th grade are well aware of emergency processes and procedures. All of our staff members are also trained,” Muri said.
“We use what we call ALERRT Training (Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training) … It is a training that is provided by the state of Texas to all school districts across our state,” Muri said.
“All of our staff members, as well as substitutes and administrators, are trained with ALERRT Training. We know, again, what to do in case of an emergency on campus so our students as well as staff members receive regular ongoing training to equip them with what to do in case we have an emergency,” he added.
“We also provide a See Something, Say Something opportunity. Many times the best prevention for any kind of emergency situation is the students and staff members themselves, so we provide anonymous opportunities for students and/or staff members to report any kind of information that would lead our police officers and/or school administrators to investigate potential dangerous situations …,” Muri said.
The district has a variety of safety and security measures that it continues to revisit throughout the year.
“… We will continue to make sure that every single school in our system, as well as the district as a whole, remain safe for our students each and every day as well as maintain the safety of each of our staff members,” Muri said.
“If any parent has questions about school safety, I encourage them to reach out to (their) school. School administration can provide a bit more detail about what safety and security looks like on every campus within ECISD,” he added.
Registration for the 2022-2023 school year is now open and families are encouraged to take part whether they are new or returning.
“We encourage everyone first to try the online experience. For those that are returning to ECISD, that registration online is incredibly simple. We have removed some of the prior requirements and made that a very simple process for you as parents …,” Muri said.
Parents can also visit any school in ECISD.
“We have 44 schools, so any one of those schools can take care of your registration process. Even if you’re not attending that school, they can still handle registration for you, so either visit online at www.ectorcountyisd.org or your local school to learn more about the registration process,” Muri said.
“We encourage all of our families to do this as soon as possible; knowing that your children are returning to school or attending us for the first time allows us to more effectively prepare for the first day of school, which is quickly approaching …,” he added.
Muri was asked if the registration forms included a question on whether parents were immigrants, Texas driver’s license and make and model of their car, Muri said not all of those items are required.
“We have to have information that tells us where a student lives. There are residency pieces, so in ECISD each of our schools has an attendance boundary. The place of residence helps us know and understand what school a child is assigned to, so we sometimes use a utility bill to help us know that; a driver’s license, again, comes with that information. There are a variety of ways and documents that parents can use to show us their proof of residence,” Muri said.
Muri was also told about businesses that said they have students working for them that don’t know how to count money or sign documents at the end of a grocery store shift, for example.
Muri said he had not heard that and could not respond to those specific situations.
“When a student graduates from high school, they receive a high school diploma. That diploma certifies not only to that student and that family … that child has attained certain knowledge and skills to empower them to be successful in life,” Muri said.
“That’s our responsibility as a school system is to make sure that all our students when they leave us are well prepared to be successful in the world of work,” he added.
He said cursive hasn’t gone away and that it’s important that students know how to sign with pencil and paper, as well as electronically.
Muri added that cursive is still taught in some schools, but is no longer a requirement.
“… It’s really communication that is taught today and written communication happens in a variety of ways. Certainly print is a form and there is cursive writing that is taught, but it is no longer a requirement. …,” he said.
Asked about STAAR results trailing the state, Muri said if you look at the STAAR and end-of-course results, you’ll see significant growth “in fact outpacing the growth of the state in many areas.”
“So we’re incredibly excited about that,” Muri said.
He commended students, teachers and administrators for a “pretty incredible year, especially in the middle of a pandemic for all of the growth that occurred.”
“We see that really not only STAAR and end-of-course exams, but even … some of the assessments that we do in pre-k, kindergarten, first and second grade saw some pretty significant results there, too …,” Muri said.
He said if you look at where ECISD was three years ago they were in a pretty low place.
“The system has trailed the state for many, many years and we are closing those gaps. That is our opportunity to close the gaps in mathematics, in reading, in science, in social studies; at every level — elementary, middle and high school when you look at the progress that we are making that is what we are doing. We are narrowing the gaps that existed” between ECISD and the state, Muri said.
He acknowledged that, “We still have a lot of work to do, but those gaps are closing and we’re pretty proud of the work that’s happening …”
Asked about veteran educators who have left the district, Muri said schools generally transition during the summer. People make life choices like retirement or finding another opportunity.
“… That’s a normal part of school district transition, and really in the business world, too, because there are always transitions,” Muri said.
He said he was not aware of any demotions.
