I-Team: Unannounced intruder audits begin as Texas schools emphasize door security
SAN MARCOS, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - School intruder audits statewide began this week in the latest step to increase school security in wake of the Uvalde school shooting.
The unannounced exterior door checks by the Texas School Safety Center are a part of the state's increased emphasis of door security.
"Exteriors doors are a huge, huge piece in creating time barriers and we know time barriers save lives," said Kathy Martinez-Prather, PhD., director at Texas School Safety Center.
By the end of the school year, the Texas School Safety Center, with help from regional education centers, plans to conduct intruder audits at nearly 7,000 schools statewide. That's 75% of all Texas public K-12 schools.
The way the audits work is trained inspectors, who will be unarmed and in plain clothes, will go around the state to schools trying to get inside. In most cases, inspectors will primarily be looking to see if doors are propped open or left unlocked.
"We will not be simulating an intrusion and that's important to know," Martinez-Prather said. "We are not going to be having individuals that are posing as threat actors trying to forcibly and aggressively enter a school campus. That's not what's going to be happening."
School districts and local law enforcement will be notified the month of the audits, but the day and campus will remain unannounced.
This summer, Texas school districts were required to run on an audit on all exterior doors on every campus. Schools are also required to do weekly exterior door checks, according to new rules from the Texas Education Agency. Many North Texas districts told the CBS 11 I-Team they do door checks at least once a day.
The intruder audits are designed to ensure schools were diligent in doing their exterior door audits and have trained staff to keep doors closed and locked.
"We are going and assessing access control measures to make sure what we've asked them to do this summer has been accomplished," the safety center's director said.
In a June hearing about the Uvalde school shooting, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw testified that 18-year-old gunman entered the elementary school through an unlocked exterior door. McCraw said the gunman then entered a classroom that had a malfunctioning door lock. A teacher had reported the broken lock prior to the shooting, according to McCraw's testimony.
