Dallas ISD is home to thousands of students and staff members, and their safety is our top priority.
Following the tragedy at Robb Elementary School in May, the State of Texas, through the Texas School Safety Center and the Texas Education Agency, sent a list of required tasks for school districts across Texas to complete. Thanks to a collaborative effort, Dallas ISD completed and submitted all required safety audits before the state’s Sept. 9 deadline.
As part of the district’s plan of action, Dallas ISD created a Comprehensive Safety Plan that includes recommendations from district safety task forces as well as the new requirements from the Texas School Safety Center. This plan requires schools to meet a variety of safety measures, including two main audits: the Summer Targeted Audit and the Exterior Door Audit.
The Summer Targeted Audit was a 47-question survey that campus administrators completed, dealing with safety policies and procedures at individual campuses. The Exterior Door Audit was a combined effort by Dallas ISD Police officers and campus safety coordinators to check the proper functioning of every exterior door at every campus across the district. This included checking doors for functionality, coordinating for door maintenance if not properly functioning, and then reporting on the types of doors across the district.
“This was quite an undertaking for a district of this size, and significant efforts were made by the Dallas ISD Police Department, Emergency Management, School Leadership, and school administration to make this become a reality,” said Otto Swenson, lead emergency manager for Dallas ISD Police.
Dallas ISD Chief of Police John Lawton said, “I am very appreciative to everyone who worked together with police and security, Emergency Management, School Leadership, and school administration to get this safety requirement completed.”
Learn more about the district’s Comprehensive Safety Plan at dallasisd.org/safeschools.
