Joey King, Lindale ISD Police Chief, brings out the trauma kit located inside Lindale ISD Junior High campus. A kit is located inside every campus and helps prepare students and staff for mass shootings. 

As students return to campuses in Smith County, area school districts have implemented new security measures for students and staff to ensure maximum safety of children and staff.

What’s new this year, and what has already been established that will continue to ensure safety? The Tyler Morning Telegraph gathered information on safety protocols at Lindale, Tyler, Chapel Hill and Whitehouse ISDs.

Lindale ISD

Parents of students who attend Lindale can expect an officer at every Lindale ISD campus for the upcoming school year, due to a decision by the board of trustees and the LISD administration.

“Having an officer assigned to each campus provides another layer of protection for our amazing students and staff. I would like to thank the LISD administration and board of trustees for all of their support in this venture. This is solid proof of Lindale ISD’s commitment to keeping the safety and security of our students and staff as a top priority,” said Joey King, Lindale ISD Police Chief.

Knowing the impact of law enforcement presence on campuses, Lindale ISD has also recently implemented an opportunity for law enforcement to receive free breakfast and lunch at any campus.

Another safety measure being provided by the district is a computer application called COPSync that anyone can click to initiate emergency responders. The program is installed on all computers in the district and was implemented in 2017. This allows fast and easy contact to a 911 dispatcher if something were to happen, said King.

“There’s an icon in the desktop called COPSync, and if there’s an emergency anyone can click that icon and an emergency message instantly goes to 911 dispatcher and that dispatcher begins a dialogue on the computer with that person in the event of an emergency. And every computer on that campus where that alert is sent, every person is able to see what’s going on their computer and join in if they have additional information to offer in regard to the emergency,” he said.

King mentioned that the district has always been proactive, from starting active shooter training and drills in 2013 and also being prepared with things such as trauma kits inside every campus and backpacks for mass casualty events.

For parents concerned about student safety, King wants to let parents know that their kids are safe with the district.

“I want our parents to be able to drop their students off every morning and feel comfortable and know that they’re safe, and that throughout the day they’re going to be protected. That’s our job and we take it very seriously,” he said.

He also mentioned that the district has a close working relationship with the local police department and constable’s office, which is an asset to the campuses in case they needed backup.

According to the district, all Lindale ISD police officers have completed the Active Shooter Response for School-Based Law Enforcement class, including training beyond the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center (ALERRT) program as part of current safety and security standards.

“Lindale ISD officers are equipped with handguns and other firearms, medical supplies, and specialized tools to assist in the event of an emergency. Security cameras inside and outside of all schools provide live access to front office staff and police,” Lindale ISD said in a statement.

Regular security audits and response activities will continue.

For more on safety at Lindale ISD, go to https://www.lindaleeagles.org/security.

Tyler ISD

What new added safety measures will be implemented this school year? A bus tracking application, more hired officers, and participation in the Guardian Program, allowing specific district employees to carry a firearm in schools.

In the beginning of August during a regularly scheduled Tyler ISD board workshop, the district board trustees approved the Guardian Plan.

This means the board of trustees and the superintendent can authorize specific district employees to have access to or carry certain firearms in schools, at board meetings, and at school-sponsored or school-related events on district property, to the extent allowed by law.

“The district sees this as an extra line of defense to ensure the safety of our students and staff, and we’ll always first rely on our Tyler ISD Police force and partnerships with local law enforcement agencies,” said Marty Crawford, Tyler ISD superintendent.

According to a statement, the district said there will be certain requirements for district employees who will be part of the guardian plan.

“Please know that each district employee approved to have access to a firearm on district property will have numerous hours of specialized training in crisis intervention, management of hostage situations, and other topics the board may determine necessary before they are ever allowed to be a part of the Guardian Plan,” Tyler ISD said.

The district will also install signs at campus entrances stating that some employees are armed, Chief Communications Officer Jennifer Hines said.

“We hope this warning will be one more deterrent for anyone thinking about harming our students and staff,” Hines added.

Besides implementing the Guardian Program, the district has added other safety measures, such as more officers at Tyler ISD police department. Increasing the police force to 34 officers will allow one armed officer to be stationed on every elementary school campus with more than one armed officer at the secondary schools.

Tyler ISD also plans to enhance its coordination with Tyler Police Department, Smith County Sheriff’s Office, Constable’s Office, and federal agencies and continue coordinating with Tyler Fire Marshal on fire safety.

Another thing the board of trustees have approved is the purchase of safety equipment and additional vehicles for the Tyler ISD Police Department.

The district mentioned that Tyler ISD police officers have completed the Active Shooter Response for School-Based Law Enforcement class, including training beyond the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center (ALERRT) program as a part of current safety and security standards.

The district also conducts annual Safety and Security Audits that the Texas School Safety Center approves.

According to Tyler ISD, staff and substitutes are trained annually on specific district and campus safety procedures, including active shooter training, and mandatory drills are scheduled before the start of the school year. Each campus has a school behavioral threat assessment team that is trained and has reviewed procedures for that campus.

For parents with students who ride the bus, Tyler ISD has also implemented a free accessible application from Tyler Technologies called ‘Ride 360,’ that can be found for Apple and Android systems.

According to Director of Transportation John Bagert, the app uses GPS data and contains students’ bus route information as they travel throughout the district and helps parents with access to secure data for the students bus such as location, route, pick up time that includes when and where the child boards and exits the bus.

The app will also allow push notifications from the transportation department to inform users of pick-up and drop-off schedules, accidents, changes in bus assignments, and other important information to keep parents and family updated of students, said the district.

Chapel Hill ISD

For this school year, Chapel Hill is another district implementing a full-time officer at every campus.

During the yearly staff convocation for the district, Superintendent Lamond Dean informed the staff about the new implementation, which received a positive response from the staff in the audience.

“The tragedy in Uvalde has opened everybody’s eyes to ensure and evaluate that our practices are as good as we desire for them to be to ensure the safety of you (staff) and the students that we serve,” he said.

Dean said this will reinforce the district’s safety protocols to ensure safety for students and staff.

“That’s the commitment that we have made with the school board support, in addition to looking at other measures that we have identified or are important to ensure your safety, because I want you to focus on children and growing them, and not worrying about the safety we put you under every single day,” he said.

The district also recently hired new CHISD Police Chief Shawn Scott.

“It is our desire to maintain a high visibility presence, not only for the first week of school but for the entire school year,” he said. “We want parents and legal guardians who are dropping off and picking up their students to become familiar with our campus officers. We encourage our community to build positive bonds with our Chapel Hill ISD Police Department officers.”

He also advises parents and guardians to inform the district about anything suspicious.

“Safety is a joint effort, everyone must play a helpful role. If a parent or guardian witnesses something that they deem suspicious, then those incidents should be reported,” Scott said.

Prior to the addition of officers and a new chief, in July, Chapel Hill ISD began procedures to complete a safety audit, which reviewed the following items by CHSID police department:

• Exterior door audit on all district facilities.
• Met and collected feedback from the already established Safety and Security Committee. The committee members also reviewed the following plans:
• The multi-hazard Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)
• and the Campus Active Threat Plan
• Ensured all campus staff received training on their specific campus safety procedures.
• Update the mandatory drill schedule for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Whitehouse ISD

Whitehouse ISD has created the new position of Director of Safety and Security, filled by Jeremy Black. This position is responsible for emergency procedures, planning, training, and promoting safety and security awareness in all aspects of school safety, said Duane Barber, Whitehouse ISD assistant superintendent of facilities and operations.

The district has also implemented changes to ensure exterior doors are monitored, Barber said.

“All instructional doors will stay closed, locked, and latched. There is a single point of entry for visitors at each campus. WISD utilizes the ‘Say Something’ app for reporting and encourages anyone to report anything that they think may need to be reported. The link for the app can be found on our website. We have also added some additional fencing on a couple of campuses,” he said.

Whitehouse has the Guardian Program in place, which began in the summer of 2020. Barber said this is an extra layer of safety.

“The Guardian Plan adds an extra layer of protection for us. Knowing that we have armed staff along with school resource officers and other security guards on campus will hopefully make any person thinking about causing harm to any of our students, staff, and/or visitors, think twice. Our guardians are trained well above the minimum standards and care deeply about the safety and security of those under their care,” Barber said.

Barber welcomes parents and guardians to email him with concerns or questions in order to assist the district with its safety precautions.

“Safety and security is a community partnership. It takes each one of us to do a little more than we think we should do to make our district and community safer today than yesterday. WISD encourages community involvement and wants to hear and know your thoughts,” Barber said.

You may contact the district online on its website or email Black, the director of safety and security, at blackje@whitehouseisd.org .