School districts throughout DFW issued statements to assure the public they take as many precautions as possible to keep the children and staff as safe as possible daily.
Plano ISD indicated they have a visitor access control procedures requiring parents and visitors to provide identification and wear a visitor ID badge while on campus. They also utilize 4,000 security cameras district-wide and all school offices have emergency call buttons linked to 911.
As a sign of the times, each Plano ISD campus participates in lockdown drills and shelter-in-place drills once each semester and practice fire/evacuation drills once per month. The high schools and senior high schools each have a school liaison police officer at the campus full-time, and each of these officers has had additional training in the event of a hostile situation involving a live weapon. These officers could be deployed quickly to other campuses in the event of extreme emergencies, supplementing the response by regular on-duty officers. Additionally, campus personnel have completed training on specific issues regarding weapons and intruders.
Late Friday afternoon, Irving ISD issued a statement outlining key elements in their security protocols. They include:
- No one should enter any school (including staff) before checking in and scanning their ID in the front office (or providing a valid staff ID).
- All of the classroom doors are to be locked and are only to be opened by the teacher after determining who the visitor is and why they are there.
- Police and district security officers monitor every campus in Irving ISD during the school day.
McKinney ISD outlined many of the same procedures. However, they also included resources parents can utilize to help parents discuss the recent tragedies with their children:
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/aftermath.aspx
http://www.pbs.org/parents/talkingwithkids/news/
http://www.cmionline.com/get-started/parents/
http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/talkingviolence.pdf
