Fort Worth ISD's safety and security teams prepare for the upcoming school year
FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Safety and security was the center of the Fort Worth ISD school board's special meeting Tuesday night.
The district's safety and security team said they've been busy over the summer looking at doors and locks, cameras, fire alarms, intercoms and PA systems.
"It was imperative that we get safety and security right this summer and we began immediately meeting as a team to make sure that all our safety equipment was functioning at as close to 100% as you could," Fort Worth ISD Executive Director of Safety and Security Daniel Garcia said.
Fort Worth PD hosted an active shooter and "Stop the Bleed" training and principals and assistant principals went through district safety and security training.
"All of this information, we follow the guidelines of the Texas School Safety Center," Garcia said.
Heading into this school year, the district will employ close to 50 contracted law enforcement officers and more than 150 campus monitors.
All employees and secondary students will be required to have badges on at all times. There will be weekly door checks and monthly campus safety drills, and there will be a new emergency management communications system.
The newest enhancement is the district's "Campus Safety & Emergency Response Team," formed to meet new TEA requirements.
"It's kind of an enhancement of what we kind of already had in place with safety teams, but we want to take it a step further," Garcia said.
Any staff member who wants to participate can do so. This team will focus on emergency management and train to effectively respond to emergencies.
Those attending Tuesday's meeting gave their thoughts.
"I think it's good that they're finally discussing this," former student Carlos Turcios said. "They're finally making a committee. I hope with this new committee that they're actually able to implement some good safety guidelines because we need good security in every single campus."
In the future, district officials say they plan to have lockdown shades installed at all high schools. They're also looking at reducing portable buildings, which are not as safe for students and staff.