Safety for students and employees is the top priority of Dallas ISD, and since the start of this school year, a new department has been designated to provide the technology and security enhancements to support that priority across the district.
“The School Safety, Monitoring and Resources Department ensures that all schools and district facilities are equipped with the tools and technology systems to monitor and provide a safe environment for students, employees, and the community,” said David Bates, Chief of Operations. “It will oversee the purchase, the implementation, and subsequently the monitoring of safety and related systems and supports at schools and district facilities.”
The technology systems, some of them already in place, are meant to provide a safe environment for students, employees, and the community. They include critical safety tools such as cameras, keycards and readers, metal detectors, shatterproof window film, intercoms, and the Raptor visitor identification system. The new department is also in charge of clear backpacks, door alarms, door lock blocks and other tools that help enhance safety. Leading these efforts as executive director of the School Safety, Monitoring and Resources Department, is Marlon Brooks, formerly the principal at Dr. L.G. Pinkston Sr. High School.
The new department works closely with Student Engagement—which supports school monitors, the Sandy Hook Promise initiative, campus crisis teams, restorative practices, and more. It will also work hand in hand with Maintenance and Facility Services to ensure that all the safety tools are working properly.
New tools and safety measures
Bates said that one of the new safety tools is a silent alarm system. “There will be an app that teachers and school administrators can use to lock down a building in case of a threat. For example, if a teacher sees something suspicious or threatening in the school parking lot, they can send out an alert through the app.” The alerts will be school-specific, but the department will also have the ability to send out notifications when a threat is reported to an area or a feeder pattern, Bates said.
One of the activities already underway is making 3D maps of the schools to better coordinate with the Dallas ISD Police Department in case of an incident at a campus. Emergency Management, which will continue under the Dallas ISD Police Department, will also partner closely with the School Safety, Monitoring and Resources Department on security measures.
Graham Swenson, who leads Emergency Management, said the district has taken great strides to prepare for and react to emergency situations, conducting more drills than the state of Texas requires. “For the past five years, every campus within the district has completed 100% of their drills. Additionally, every campus has completed and submitted their Campus Emergency Operations Plan for the last five years, and practice intruder checks were conducted at every campus at the beginning of the school year. Non-educational facilities are also being required to complete Facility Emergency Operations Plans and complete practice drills.
“All of these efforts show, as Superintendent Elizalde puts it, our district’s commitment – not just compliance – to the safety of our students, faculty and employees,” Swenson said.
More officers to be hired
In another move to implement additional security measures, the Dallas ISD PD is working with the district’s Human Capital Management to hire more police officers, armed campus security officers and public safety officers, said the district’s Chief of Police John Lawton.
“The school district has initiated a hiring and marketing campaign that will encourage security professionals to choose to have a career at Dallas ISD,” he said. “Additional armed security personnel are already in the process of being assigned to elementary campuses and other locations in need of additional security supports.”
Dallas ISD has also transitioned to a P25 Digital Radio system, which allows its police department to have direct communications with the Dallas Police and Dallas Fire Rescue departments. This system reduces the possibility of communication interference and improves communication with other first responders in the metroplex.
“Safety is an ongoing process,” Chief Lawton said. “When we find a better way to do something, or better technology that we can implement to help keep our kids and our schools safe, we put that to use. It’s a constant, ongoing process.”
