Safety & Security Department

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Posted:  October 14, 2008

Irving ISD Security: A Comprehensive Plan

by J. Pat Lamb, Director of Security and Operations
 

As parents and students of our District, you have a right to know the steps we are taking to provide a safe, secure, and orderly environment within our schools.  Like you, I have watched the frightening images of violence in schools through the lens of media coverage; and, like you, I am concerned as a parent when I see innocence violated by those who would seek to cause harm to others.  Please know that we give ourselves to the matter of providing safety and security to the students, staff, and visitors of our District; we constantly strive to improve, to learn of new methods, to train for the emergencies we hope never to occur.

Please allow me to take a few moments to discuss with you the state of security within our school district, in hopes that you gain a sense of confidence in the efforts being made to protect your students.  If, after reading this summary, you would like to discuss the matter of security further, please contact me at .  I would enjoy the opportunity to hear the matter out with you.

Several years back, Christopher Reeve, when addressing our nation from his wheelchair, stated, “All of us need to help all of us.”  In light of providing security in our District, I could not agree more!  While our Board of Trustees has set as its first goal to “provide a safe, secure and orderly environment throughout the district for students, staff, parents and patrons of the Irving ISD, while also making emergency preparedness a high priority,” we understand that it takes communities of people to bring this goal to fruition.  For a moment, please join me behind the scenes as together we explore our security strategy.

The details of security are numerous as we survey every facet of risk to our District.  Though we may never completely eliminate the threat of violence at our schools, our experience certainly suggests we can prepare with the intent of preventing it from reaching a crisis level and disintegrating the trust between a community and its school system.  Parents and teachers have a common goal in terms of security:  that students enjoy school in an environment maintained by caring, knowledgeable, and experienced administrators…those who look for the uncommon and out-of-place.  Our security plan seeks to identify vulnerabilities in our response protocols; once we understand the gaps present in our current plan, we can enact processes designed to mitigate the inherent threats relative to those gaps or vulnerabilities.  Section 37.108 of the Texas Education Code mandates that school districts conduct a security audit at least once every three years, with the results of the audit presented to the Board of Trustees; it’s in this audit that we anticipate discovering vulnerabilities, and it’s in reporting the findings to our Board that will help ensure we provide solutions.  Our District has completed this security audit and the results were reported to our Board in August of 2008.  An action list is now being generated relative to recommendations made by the auditors; this list will be provided to campus principals and managed by our Security department.

In your school district, you can fully expect that we seek cutting-edge technology to help thwart crime.  This technology comes by way of Closed Circuit Television, where we “see” what is occurring in strategic locations; it comes by way of Controlled Access, where we control when, where, who, and how people enter our facilities; and, it comes by way of visitor identification, where we have installed the V-Soft visitor registry system manufactured by Raptor Technologies, Inc. (please visit www.raptorware.com for more information) by which we know in mere moments if a Registered Sexual Offender is attempting to gain access into our schools.  But technology can only take us part of the way to our goal of providing security for your children; we continue to rely upon the people of Irving ISD to provide the baseline of our security efforts.  On a 24-hour basis, security department employees monitor our physical assets, as well as provide support for our campus administration; our Irving Police Department provides its officers to serve as School Resource Officers (SRO) at our campuses, building trust relationships with our students; our Board of Trustees approved a program whereby we place Campus Auxiliary Officers in all secondary schools (these are security employees placed in middle schools and high schools who aid our SROs and campus administrators in positively engaging visitors and ensuring that students move through the corridors in relative peace and safety); and, our campus personnel serve on crisis management teams and practice response options relative to certain event scenarios, all for the purpose of being ready should the unthinkable occur. 

Click here to read the Frequently Asked Question about V-Soft in Irving ISD.
 

Each of our campus principals has a Crisis Management Handbook (which stipulates our Emergency Operations Plan).  This book is filled with useful information in responding to emergencies.  Various emergency scenarios are presented with a checklist of items for the principal to consider in managing the campus response.  As well, we have provided our classroom teachers with a quick reference flipchart; this chart gives response synopses relative to the emergencies noted in the Crisis Management Handbook.  Combined with the training we provide to campus crisis management teams, in which the teams talk through their response to a given scenario that I provide, the campus leadership gains valuable experience in responding should an actual emergency present itself.  These “tabletop” training exercises are conducted annually and have become the baseline of our preparations for emergency response.  Additionally, however, beginning last year and continuing this school year, we conduct unannounced lockdown drills in which staff and students respond to a simulated threat within the school.

Everyday we have security department employees patrol our district.  Their purpose is multifaceted:  they respond to the needs of campus personnel at any hour of the day; they daily check our parking lots to ensure the protection of vehicles; they check for intruders on or around our facilities, including our campus grounds; they check to ensure the buildings are locked and secured; they respond to motion alarm sensors within the buildings which are strategically located to “sense” intruders after our normal business hours; they report broken windows and other facility structural mishaps to our maintenance department; and they check exterior lighting to ensure our campus personnel are safe during the evening hours when walking to and from their vehicles.  Reports generated by these patrol officers are distributed to appropriate personnel and offices; we want to ensure our campus principals know what we’re finding, and we help to ensure that those items in need of repair are managed appropriately.

Our District enjoys a robust and long-standing relationship with the Irving Police Department.  We rely on our police to serve as School Resource Officers at each of our campuses.  These officers build and maintain a trust relationship with our students and with campus staff members.  Frankly, they serve to protect our students from violence.  Each armed officer is equipped with handheld radios which enable them to stay in constant contact with campus administrators; additionally, they maintain their police radios which enable them to have immediate access to the police station should they need the assistance of additional police officers.  Our SROs are invaluable in the daily security of our many campuses.  Their management of our Crime Stoppers program (http://www.iisdcrimestoppers.com/) has helped to thwart crime and to capture those who have chosen to perpetrate crime against others.  As well, when needed these officers investigate matters of vandalism and/or theft, filing police reports for use in our court system.  The Irving Police Department Gang Unit, as well, has been helpful in the past in monitoring local gang members and their impact at our schools.  Recently, this unit briefed members of the District Improvement Committee Safety and Security sub-committee on gang involvement in Irving; I’m very glad to tell you that the officer reported that local gangs have little involvement or impact in our City and our District.  I think you will agree that having SROs and other police officers present help to bring a sense of calm and order to the campus.

The District also has a business relationship with Interquest (http://www.interquestk9.com/), a company located in the Metroplex that provides contraband- and drug-dogs for campus and parking lot searches.  These searches are randomly conducted at our secondary campuses.  Any positive findings are reported to the campus administrator and to the SRO.  Additionally, principals have for use at their discretion, hand-held metal detectors (we do use a walk-through metal detector at our Secondary Reassignment Center and at the Wheeler Center for daily student in-processing).  The District also has at its disposal the use of a detection company.  This company swabs surface areas, enters the material into a detection unit, and then determines what, if any, narcotics or explosive materials are present.

The Irving Fire Department (IFD) plays a significant role in our attempts at keeping students safe and secure.  From conducting routine but random fire drills, to conducting education sessions for our elementary students and annual fire training to our District personnel, this committed department works tirelessly to meet the needs of our community.  Should we have a need for emergency personnel at any campus due to life-safety issues, our IFD members are prompt to respond and provide whatever help is needed.  The fire inspectors that visit our campuses help to ensure that all of our personnel are safe.  They check our fire sprinkler system, our smoke detectors, our kitchens, our hallways…really, everything that we “touch” in and around our schools; they want to make sure our “systems” are inspected and in working order should the need to use them arises.

Many district administrators and parent volunteers give much attention to the matter of providing a safe and secure environment at our campuses.  Each year, for instance, the District Improvement Committee (DIC) meets to evaluate current security initiatives and to create new security strategy.  I appreciate the opportunity to chair the safety and security sub-committee and have found that our parents and community members who serve on the DIC do so borne of a genuine desire to serve the needs of our students.  This sub-committee articulates recommended strategy and makes proposals for acceptance into the District Improvement Plan, which ultimately is presented to our Board of Trustees for approval and acceptance.  This, then, becomes the basis of our security goals for the year.  Following is the most recent security plan given by this sub-committee:

In addition to the District Improvement Committee, the district formed a Security Task Force Committee in November of 2006 with the purpose of creating a list of systemic improvements designed to bolster our safety and security program.  This list of recommendations was taken to the Board of Trustees for consideration of implementation.  The list included the following items:  updated CCTV at all campus sites; completion of Controlled Access (Keyless Entry System) at remaining schools; creation of the Campus Auxiliary Officer program; creation of a “see what we see” audit; and, the installation of a visitor identification program.  With the exception of the completion of the installation of controlled access at all schools (which is currently underway), each of these initiatives has been completed.

Again, I very much appreciate the efforts of our community stakeholders and district personnel in meeting the security needs of our students, faculty, and visitors.

Undoubtedly, you and I have shared concerns by what we’ve seen on the news and read in the paper relative to school violence, the influence and impact of gangs, the use of weapons, and the like.  It can be disconcerting at best, and downright frightening, at worst.  I understand this; as a result, I daily engage with our campus personnel and central administration in the process of “doing” security.  I’m glad to tell you that there are many in our community who have involved themselves in this process.  We have aligned ourselves with Federal, State, County, and City response protocols and communicate routinely with various agencies involved at each of these levels.  We’re doing what we know to do to prepare for any number of emergency events should they arise.  Thankfully, and this is the point I wish to leave with you, in the United States, where there are an estimated 125,000 schools, some 54 million students daily engage in the process of education in relative safety, security, and peace.  This happens because communities of people work hard to keep the environment free from hostilities, especially those from “outside” sources.  And while it is not feasible to believe we can provide total and complete security, I continue to believe that the public schoolhouse is the safest place in the community because those communities of people sweat the details of security behind the scenes.

Thank you for your time.  I encourage you to contact your campus principal to work through any specific issues you might be facing relative to your student(s); otherwise, feel free to contact me should you wish to further discuss the matter of security.  And thank you for the support you give to our District.

Warmest Regards,

 
J. Pat Lamb
Director of Security and Operations
Irving Independent School District
plamb@irvingisd.net