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The House Committee on Public Education met on June 27 to review the effectiveness of schools’ current multi-hazard emergency plans, determine any areas of deficiency and make recommendations to ensure student safety, research violence prevention strategies, and identify resources and training available to schools. Also, to examine current school facilities and consider and research-based practices when designing a school.

 

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics the committee took up. This report is not a verbatim transcript of the hearing; it is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

 

Panel 1:

Mike Morath, TEA 

  • Reflects on his experience with the tragedy in Santa Fe
  • There are tangible effects we can put into our schools
  • 37 TEA code has various related safety measures which are exempted from TEA oversight
  • Slide 4 from the PowerPoint shows a timeline of action taken since the Parkland shooting
  • There are several districts who use the School Marshal Program
    • There is free training available for individuals who want to become marshals
      • That became available this month
    • Hays County has a partnership with the school districts where police stop by the school everyday which increases the amount of police on campus
  • FBI created the report, Implications for Prevention of School Attacks which is very helpful
  • Mental Health First Aid training, general awareness building now being offered free of charge to teachers
    • Other programs are free to teachers over the summer
  • Huberty- How are these programs offered?
    • Not offered through TEA
    • Mental health training is from HHSC, school safety training through ALERT
  • Huberty- How many school districts have taken advantage of this?
    • Not sure might, be worth of some legislative attention
  • Huberty- So it is not just a class you go to for a couple of days?
    • It is an 80-hour course and your school district has to agree to it as well
    • We just need to make sure these people are capable of doing it
  • Meyer- What does the multi-hazards plan get into?
    • It is a legal requirement all districts complete
  • Meyer- Is the active shooter involved in that plan?
    • I think the answer is yes
  • Meyer- You said there might be a need for a legislative decision on accountability?
    • I wouldn’t use the word accountability
    • It is a question of reporting and insight
    • Might be worthy of attention, but would not recommend creating more TEA codes
  • Dutton- Should we leave it up to individual school districts?
    • Manner of reporting is worth attention
    • I am not prepared to offer any recommendations yet
  • We received $62 million in funding from federal government that will go to districts this summer
  • TEA issued the letter notifying the districts of their options and opportunities to improve safety
    • Improvements to audit framework which would be legislative
  • Working with HHSC on other funding sources they have access to
  • Secret service report interviewed everyone who committed acts of violence and none of them had classical symptoms of mental disorders; most faced a situation of desperation
    • Similar process as attempting suicide, but they opt for homicide
  • There is a variety of activity engaged to improve mental health in schools
    • Trauma informed programs are in development
    • A mental health task force has been actively working to increase mental health related resources in other areas of Texas
    • Should use service centers as a hub for support centers
    • Practices seen in Lubbock related to mental health intervention and threat assessment are of significant value and worth legislative action
  • Student discipline is where you see symptoms of this behavior
    • Need additional support for teachers to create positive classrooms
  • In the long term, character education needs to make sure students know how to handle adversity instead of reacting in a negative way
    • Will help reduce supply students who are having a hard time
    • Character Plus Program is good, but optional
    • Worth of longer term attention
  • Allen- The state has taken away the professional development funds?
    • Not sure what you are talking about
  • Allen- The funds where you train teachers. Staff development, etc.?
    • Reading academies, math academy, etc.
    • Some funds from federal government on special education
  • Allen- Are we having student self esteem development for all teachers?
    • No
  • Allen- Are we doing it on a small scale?
    • Yes
  • Allen- I think money is still a problem. We aren’t doing anything.
    • There is no central support for character development in Texas
  • Allen- How much is being done in Texas now?
    • 189 districts have character plus in 2010; Data shows it is not centrally supported
    • Revising teacher certification standards and trying to imbed that during educator prep program teachers will be exposed to how to create a positive environment in their classroom
    • Educator preparation will not come into line until 2022
  • Bernal- How are we helping the students who are already down the path of violence?
    • Long-term mitigation
    • Need an approach that provides near term interventions
    • This is a 3-part system that is being executed
  • Bernal- For the second and third part of the plan, is it part of our conversation to add people on campus who can help the students?
    • Team based practices are not used throughout Texas schools
    • We are looking at existing staffing, but that means taking them away from the other roles they play on campus
  • Bernal- In the document, are we not saying that schools should have the trauma teams?
    • Specifically recommended to schools on how they should look at staffing for trauma teams
  • Bernal- Need more funding?
    • Correct
  • Dutton- Can you finish the sentence, “Schools are not safe because…”
    • I think schools are generally safe
    • When they are not safe it’s based on relationship failures
  • Dutton- We need to look at a whole host of things to make schools safer.
    • It is a problem we can make significant progress on
  • Dutton- So we can probably note that we cannot solve, but rather minimize when violence occurs.
    • The question is, are there programs that can reduce school violence.
  • Bohac- I think your language on character education is very helpful. I will be introducing the bill on character education next session
  • Deshotel- Schools may be safe statistically, but that may lead to the perception that we do not need to do anything to fix them. If people have that attitude, people do not bring attention to the issue.
  • Meyer- Would it be a good practice to require trauma counselors and for us to fund it? I get there is a funding issue.
    • Liz Fagen-Different school districts have different practices; big differences between school districts that would make it hard
    • Liz Fagen- The best practice recommends that the counselor should be the first triage point in schools and they determine whether it needs to be a psychiatrist or a doctor
    • Liz Fagen- Limited resources make it challenging and it is hard to take other duties away from those counselors
    • Morath- Whether you would want an FTE on every campus or the better model is at a service centers where multiple counselors can be at hand. The challenge is the volume of work that would have to happen
  • Meyer- I think we need to add a resource on campus, so we can understand if it is utilized.
    • Concentrated resources are very effective
  • VanDeaver- What does it look like when you say TEA is going to free up needs and add counselors to campuses?
    • Determining how systems can decrease clerical duties for the counselors
    • $62 million does not go very far in Texas
  • VanDeaver-Will you come to the committee with a request?
    • In the process of completing and adding a section in safety and health
  • Van Deaver- On Slide 18, what will be the involvement for TEA for the LEA to apply for grants?
    • We have been engaged in a lot of work to streamline the grant process
    • Created a practice recommendation guide
    • Explains Rachel’s Challenge in Colorado which is designed to get the kids to have empathy with one another
      • One study showed, ACT scores went up 3% in schools where Rachel’s Challenge was implemented
    • The TEA will have legislative recommendations soon
    • Dutton- Have we included students in the conversation?
      • Day 3 of Governor’s roundtables included all students and went to Santa Fe and talked to many students
    • Huberty-Based on the FTE data, how many counselors exist in Texas?
      • 12,112 counselors, 708 social workers, and 1,449 LSSPS
    • Huberty- So the recommended ratio for counselors is 250:1 and we are at 500: 1?
      • Yes
    • Huberty- Should we put more counselors into schools and should Texas pay for it?
      • Morath- You generally do not provide bucketed money to school districts
      • Morath- If school districts wanted to increase the number counselors, the number of teachers would decrease, or police presence would decrease
      • Fagen- The more flexibility at the local level, the better
    • King- Not sure forcing districts to hire a state marshal but should hire more counselors.
    • VanDeaver- Do you have stat on how many counselors are on certification pipeline?
      • Morath- We will get that data to you

 

Liz Fagen, Humble ISD

  • Discusses what safety measures are being taken in Humble
    • We have created a risk assessment document for every building that is internally held
    • We pay attention to building hardness, mental health, early childhood, inconveniently timed evacuations
    • Just implemented an app for students, parents, and teachers can submit threats
      • Application is called Ihelp
    • Huberty- What other districts have similar practices?
      • Colorado has Safe to Tell
      • The police department receives all the reports
      • We have disrupted personal harm situations with the app
    • Have collaborated with elementary schools and have more patrol with the elementary schools
    • Have a geo-fence around campus for social media
    • Need trained officers and connectivity between on and off school personal
    • The app called School Guard is very expensive for school districts, but as a state would be effective
    • Counselors are overburdened with other things
    • Huberty- Should we be thinking about a shared resource center for police in the Humble/Crosby/Atascocita region?
      • Yes, if there is a way to have cross district collaboration it would be a good thing
    • Huberty- What is the cost to add anything Humble might need to make the schools as safe as possible?
      • I don’t have a number off the top of my head
      • All the school hardening things we would want to take advantage of would cost millions for my district
    • Koop- Did you create the app on your own?
      • We went out on our own and used the same developer as the Colorado app
    • Koop- Do you look at the app everyday?
      • Everyday
    • Koop- Who gets the alerts?
      • Police department, principle, superintendent, and counselors
    • Huberty- What should we be doing because there are schools that have resources and others who don’t.
      • Morath- We do have some resources being deployed now; alert training is already being executed
      • Morath- $2 million in state wide funding will be deployed to specific techniques; $4 million in immediate funds from Title 4
      • Morath- Longer term issues get more expensive
    • Huberty- is there a protocol that can be put in place to prevent the delay of information to parents after the events occur?
      • Morath- The delay in Santa Fe was unavoidable; specific events occurred

 

Panel 2:

Pam Wells, Region 4 Education Service Center

  • Shows data from page 4 to the committee
  • PBIS- school and campus wide system to promote positive behaviors; encouraging the concept of interconnected mental health supports
  • Tier 1 supports can be a huge help
  • PBIS has increased from 532 to 908 schools in a 5-year period and PBIS is based on a multi-frame network
    • Slide 6 provides a framework for how the work will be done
  • Sometimes need tier 2 support for specialized student groups
  • Tier 3 support is for selected children who need support
  • Page 8 shows what happens in school settings
    • 1 in 5 children will have a serious mental illness
    • 55% of children will have a mental illness by the age of 14
    • Suicide is the 3rd leading cause in death among youth
  • More connections between schools and mental health providers would be beneficial
    • Interconnected systems framework at the bottom of page 10
    • Shows how to create multi-tiered teams that would support children in our schools
  • Bernal- Are there many connections between social and emotional learning?
    • There are very many connections between the two
    • In the Governor’s plan there were recommendations for Crime Stoppers and identified a grant for Region 4 to support Santa Fe and other schools in our district
      • Grant provides funding for mental health counselors
      • Could be used as a test for how service centers could support schools

 

Michelle Kinder, Momentous Institute

  • Gives background on the Momentous Institute
    • Attending to emotional well-being does not hinder educational learning it improves it
  • There is a need for trauma informed educatiors
    • Children do not have the neurological capacity to destress
  • 1 million children a year are diagnosed as ADD, etc. when the behavior is just trauma related
  • Need to promote safe relationships and teach children how to self-regulate
  • King- Are there certain things that move stress from tolerable to toxic?
    • We focus on how to move it from toxic to tolerable using safe relationships and ask do kids have the capacity to manage their own nervous systems
    • Kids need to learn mutual regulation in order to learn how to calm themselves down
  • King- So it bubbles down to culture?
    • We need more counselors rather than giving tools to all the hands in the building
  • King- My worry is we are going to have more testing coordinators rather than counselors if we increase the number of counselors.
  • Recommends strategies to implement
    • Teachers greet every child by name is proven to make a difference
    • Morning meetings and closing circles
    • A research-driven parent engagement model
    • We teach our children as young as 3 about their brain; if children can get a basic control of their emotions it will be easier to solve the issue
  • Shows a visual the institute uses to teach the young children about the brain
  • Recommends the committee look at Frisco ISDs plan to free up 27,000 minutes for counseling
  • Need to make a systemic change that is woven throughout
  • Bernal- The number of poor children in our school districts have grown in the past 20 years, which has increased the number of students bringing trauma into the campus.

 

Jeff Temple, UTMB

  • We need to identify kids who are at risk and intervene
    • Need to add prevention education into the prevention code
  • Would like too see money on behavioral services in schools
  • Many programs look nice, but do not know if programs like Rachel’s Challenge
  • Recommends the Fourth R Program and a focus on prevention
  • Koop- Do you and the University of Texas Southwestern have any connections? We are in talks about implementing their mental health program in some schools in my district. Maybe we could talk about that later.
    • I am not aware of the program, but I would love to discuss
  • ISDs should partner with mental health practices
  • Koop- I appreciate you supporting only evidence-based practices.

 

Panel 3:

Cassandra Hulsey, Texas Association of Psychologists

  • We need to highlight what a school psychologist is
    • One of the barriers to providing mental health to children is not knowing who can provide help to the students
  • People are unaware of the type of counselors available; the Commissioner was unaware of what the LSSPs are
  • Texas law states that professionals are not allowed to identify as a school psychologist
    • Need to address visibility
  • Example to highlight
    • After Santa Fe, LSSPs were offering their time and were turned away because the people in charge of allocating resources were not aware of what an LSSP was
  • Need to expand the scope with a mental health provider already on campus
  • Consider policies that open the scope and practice of a school psychologist
  • Recommend retention of current school psychologists currently in the field, but also bring new students into training programs

 

Kimberly Ridgley, Northside ISD and Texas Counseling Association 

  • Provides the committee with excerpts from the Texas Model of Comprehensive School Counselors
    • This model is evidence-based
    • There are 10 roles and responsibilities of a school counselors
    • Describes tiers of school counselors
    • Inter/Intra safety, career readiness, etc.
    • Individualized student planning with H.B. 5 gets students to graduation
    • Need to align services and work with students, teachers, counselors and community
  • Discusses the need for resources to allow the proper student to counselor ratio
    • Allocation of resources is important and needs to be looked at
  • Gives recommendations:
    • Removing test administrations and allow counselors to use their skill set
    • Dedicate education specifically to pay for more school counselors
    • Expand loan programs to include counselors
    • Look at areas that have mental health shortages
  • Koop- When you go to college, do you go over the normal things we think of a counselor of doing?
    • No it is on the job training
  • Koop- Do counselors learn how to get children into colleges during in-college training?
    • Yes
  • Koop- Would you say your training is mostly in mental health or testing?
    • Mental health training
  • Bohac- You mentioned that guidance counselors today are different from guidance counselors decades ago. What is the cause and effect on that?
    • Guidance counselor was taken out of the law and they are now referred to school counselors
    • Awareness of mental health, changing society, social meeting, etc.
    • Counselors are wanting to do work on mental health
  • Huberty- What is your tax rate?
    • Do not know
  • Huberty- So, your superintendent found other resources to pay for it? Do you know what the cost was?
    • No, we have many campuses in the 1:700-800 range
  • Bernal- Would like a list of what counselors are asked to do beyond the scope of their work
    • We can provide that for you
    • Our counselors are not 504 coordinators

 

Benjamin Reed, Floresville ISD

  • On a daily basis, we help students with a variety of things
  • Discusses the teams made of school social workers who have professional experience implementing the programs in schools
  • We have children who exhibit behaviors due to not having adequate resources at home
  • Social workers put on a fair giving out school supplies
  • Have a helping hands program and other programs that help the emotional welfare of our students
  • Huberty- H.B.743 talked about the definition of social worker integrated into schools, but it died on the house floor.

 

Panel 4:

Sonja Gaines, HHSC

  • Important to note the resources already being used
  • As a result of the work through state agencies a council was created
    • Council was instrumental in the creation of a state-wide health strategic plan
    • Includes many state agencies
    • Also, developed a sub group hosted by TEA called USAC that bring together state agencies that serve youth
  • Discussed Mental Health and First-Aid
    • Early identification and prevention is critical
    • B. 3793 required HHSC to train mental health authorities
    • Trained 7,000 state agency employees and 25,000 people within the school system
  • Shows data on the training
    • 97% found training to be helpful
    • 93% found their awareness of mental health increased
    • 92% feel they could intervene during a mental health crisis
    • 96% already used training to help students
  • We are working with the TEA to provide more training
  • Huberty- Can you give some update on the training?
    • Majority of the training happens during the summer
    • Big push on the school districts part as well as TEA
  • There are unique challenges with the rural communities on retaining and attracting employees
  • Want to highlight that local mental health authorities are required to have crisis outreach teams, training, etc.
  • Have 10 grants targeted on partnerships between schools and mental health providers

 

Elizabeth Minne, Vida Clinic and Austin ISD 

  • Provides background on the Vida Clinic
  • We found that providing clinical training improves campuses in Austin ISD
    • Able to work closely with school personnel
  • Describes the referral process
    • Partnership with Austin ISD allows personnel to quickly refer students in need directly to care facilities
    • Referral consent must be signed
    • Have evidence that we were able to decrease behaviors that could have escalated
  • Looked at a group of aggressive children before and after treatment; found a decrease in aggression post-treatment
    • Research found that children do better in school, attendance improves
  • Huberty- How many counselors do you have in Austin ISD?
    • Not sure
  • Huberty- How many people are in your department?
    • I am the director of the Clinic partnered with Austin ISD
  • Koop- Where do you get your resources?
    • We try to bill insurance when we can, but we have a variety of streams
  • Bohac- How far back does the information from Tracey’s report stem back from?
    • Not sure

 

Captain Rick Francis, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office

  • Gives background on his position
  • Stresses the importance of communication between the school district and sheriff’s office
  • Describes the system used in Seminole County
    • Use a system that can give the sheriff’s office the instant ability to look at the video camera footage
    • We also use a soft panic button as the trigger and when activated there is a multi-media approach
    • Hospitals can be given the video footage immediately
    • The system eliminates time spent worrying about what to do; Everyone on campus is immediately notified
    • Video is on a secured network
    • Once the panic button is activated, have the ability
  • Use the 60-40 rule when looking at school hardening
  • Huberty- How many school districts do you have? 4 hrs
    • 62
  • Huberty- What did the Florida legislation do they do right and what did they do wrong?
    • Gave us $2 million to spend on new positions but I won’t use It
  • I do not think the guardian program is a good idea because it can cause confusion
  • Huberty- What is the name of program?
  • Bernal- You talked about the importance of 60-40. How does the 60 inform the 40 and how do you not overload the 40?
    • The products are expensive, and you don’t need both the mutual link and bullet proof glass
    • Metal detectors will not stop an active killer
    • Big believer in having a central point; identify threat quickly and address it

 

Andrea Richardson, Bluebonnet Trails and Jodi Duron, Elgin ISD

  • Both give background on who they are representing
    • We are devoid of resources to our school and community
  • We introduced a centralized clinic in Elgin that is used to address mental wellness services
  • The by-product of the partnership between Bluebonnet Trails and Elgin ISD allows the children grow, connect with their teachers, have sustainable funding through Medicaid, and we are able to serve the entire community out of this facility
  • We tell every family what resources we have available and offer same day access
  • Huberty- You started this how long ago?
    • 5
  • Huberty- Have you had any suicides, or have you seen a decrease in anything?
    • No suicides, but a former student who was not enrolled did
    • We receives a federal grant to add counselors to every school in the district
  • Huberty- How much money was that?
    • 800,000 for 3-year period for the elementary school
    • 5 campuses we were serving
  • Huberty- Where was the grant from?
    • S. Public Education
  • Huberty-How many people are you getting rid of?
    • Through attrition, but will lose 3 counselors
  • Huberty-They benefit the kids though?
    • Yes
  • Huberty- Do you have police departments?
    • Yes, we have 2 full time officers
  • Huberty- You do not have officers for all police and are losing counselors?
    • Yes

 

Panel 5:

 

Kathy Martinez-Prather, Texas School Safety Center

  • Texas School Safety Center serves schools to create healthy and safe school experiences
  • Give background on the Center
    • Appropriations began in 2007
  • Huberty- What are you currently appropriated?
    • $1.8 million for biennium
  • Provide training, equipment, etc.
    • All training is free
    • Resources are accessed through the website
    • Have trained over 50,000 school personnel
  • Audit process occurs every 3 years and is self-reporting
  • School districts are required to use our audit process or one equal to it which causes inequity between districts
    • Recommend consistency within the state
    • In terms of strengthening the audit process, developing a grading process for districts in terms of developing specific standards
    • Recommend strengthening local collaboration with fire and police
    • Maybe have a plan signed off by the board of trustees
  • Allen- What does the training look like?
    • We provide online and in-person training on bullying, mental-health, etc.
  • We need to do an assessment throughout the state
  • We try to do our best to provide technical assistance to schools, but cannot be at every school in Texas in a year
  • Allen- How do you measure your success?
    • Pre/post tests; evaluations in schools 6 months after
    • The audit process is a time to capture all efforts over a 3-year span
    • A high percentage of districts self-report that they are implementing the safety practices
  • Allen- Do you plan to implement that across the state?
    • We could, but are not legislated to
  • Dutton- Do you have a minimum safety standard every campus must meet?
    • Texas makes sure safety is part of the school agenda to have plans and conduct self-audits
  • Dutton- Does this tell you how safe a school is?
    • It is not just focusing on school hardening, but prevention
    • Going to provide behavioral threat assessment
    • We partner with Sigma Threat management
    • Threat assessment allows schools to identify those who pose a threat
  • Dutton- Do you grade schools?
    • No, but we are working towards implementing that in the audit process
  • Dutton- But you would have to have a standard first?
    • We have one; the Texas Unified Safety and Security Standards
  • Dutton-You don’t get to tell districts how to comply?
    • School districts are not required to do what we say
  • Dutton- Do school districts ask for your help?
    • Yes, most are rural
  • Dutton- When school districts have a problem, do they have to report it to you?
    • No, but we work hand in hand with TEA
  • Dutton- When you develop the standards send them to us
  • Huberty- How many school districts take advantage of the center?
    • 75%
  • Huberty- What are the other 25%?
    • Rural districts
  • Huberty- Any ideas why the 25% do not use your center?
    • Different reasons why
  • Huberty- what resources do you need? Think about that and get back to us

 

Laurie Christensen, Fire Marshal for Harris County

  • NFPA 3000 includes 4 main standards
    • NFPA 3000 is titled Active Shooter Hostile Event Response
  • Dutton- Regarding the information you develop, do you provide it to Kathy Martinez-Prather (previous speaker)?
    • No, it is given to the districts
  • Dutton- The district does not give it to her either?
    • No
  • NIMS protocol is required by the U.S. Department of Education that is going to receive federal funding
  • The standard provides a framework that gives them the tool to see what the districts are doing
  • Communication is often the key failure; the response is very important
  • Huberty- 25% of all students in the state are from Harris County. How many campuses are in compliance?
    • Almost to 100% compliance
  • Huberty- Is there a mechanism to deal with students pulling the fire alarm?
    • The code allows schools to remove the pull stations if there are sprinklers in the building
    • You would have to determine what the jurisdictions are required
  • Dutton- What does the district do with the information?
    • Most keep the recommendations in their records
    • They have maintenance personnel walking with us during the checks and fix them on the spot
  • Dutton- Do you go back to check and make sure they follow the corrections?
    • Yes, we have an inspection team
  • Dutton- What happens when they fail?
    • Can write a citation or Fire Marshal’s order

 

Christine Nishimura, Texas Charter Schools Association

  • Discusses what TCSA has available regarding school shootings
    • We have training for active shooters available
    • In addition, we offer model policies of what the schools can implement
    • Included Ch. 37 requirements and mirrored them in our model
  • Many schools have emergency management plans
  • Insurance requests the use of an emergency management plan and have never run into a problem
  • Bernal- Do charter schools have arrangements with police departments?
    • Charter schools cannot create their own, but can contract with local law enforcement
  • Bernal- Do any do that?
    • Yes, specifically with school marshals and security personnel/law enforcement
  • VanDeaver- Have any implemented the school marshal plan?
    • Some have, but do not have a specific number

 

Rania Mankarious, Crime Stoppers of Houston

  • Describes the mission and background of Crime Stoppers
    • Started with a tip line
    • In 1997, the tip line was brought into the schools
    • Students are often the first point of prevention
    • In 2013, started to bring the tip line into elementary schools
  • Crime Stoppers had a unique power to go talk to these children about real issues and then provide them with an anonymous tip line
    • This model has become crucial
  • We are in 30 school districts and reached over 1 million students
  • Found unanimous support for replication of the model statewide
  • We have partnered with Be Nice in Michigan
  • Bohac- Do you have the tool on an app?
    • They can text, email, or submit a tip through the website
  • Huberty- You are non-profit?
    • We are self-funded
  • Huberty- Are there any other cities in Texas with Crime Stoppers?
    • We have 134 Crime Stopper facilities in Texas
  • Huberty- There is no connection with the other facilities?
    • We all report to the central board

 

Panel 6:

 

Rodney Cavness, Texas City ISD

  • We should look at the mistakes other school districts have made
  • There are a variety of angels you need to attack when it comes to school safety
  • We have been using threat assessment for 30 years and it is key; it is easy to teach to students, parents, and staff
  • I would ask this committee to hold people accountable when they see signs of a potential threat in schools
  • Having relationships with the kids is huge
  • We need sustainable revenue help
  • Huberty- Is $1.2 million annually the additional expense?
    • The additional
  • Huberty- What is your current expense?
    • $800,000
  • Huberty- What about the hardening of the schools?
    • Older campuses are harder to upgrade and newer campuses are more secure
    • All of our campuses need some type of update
    • $6.5 million in bond money for that
  • Huberty- Do you use any sort of technology?
    • Yes, I will let Mike describe

 

Mike Matranga, Executive Director of Security and Safety Texas City ISD

  • Would like the see the first responders take charge
  • Feed cut out
  • Teacher’s complain that they cannot discipline the kids because of some of the federal guidelines
  • La Marque High School has 30 doors
  • Mental health screening is the most important prevention
    • A loss of a job, a breakup, etc. trigger the attacks
    • Aggression is triggered from their backgrounds
  • Dutton- What is the difference between hiring you versus the companies you do not like?
    • I am making a salary, but some people are multi-million salaries
  • Huberty- You work specifically with the ISD?
    • Yes, I use multiple methods they use one
  • I would rather invest in officers than a machine
  • Advocating that we provide social media monitoring
    • In multiple cases, the shooter puts out a diatribe on Reddit or Fortran
  • Relationship building with the teachers, counselors, administrative
  • Need money to establish a reporting system
    • Detectives have come up with ideas for a mental health division
  • There is a breakdown in communication
  • I do not think arming teachers is the right idea
  • Huberty- Do you have any school marshals?
    • No
  • Huberty- So your philosophy is going through the police department?
    • Yes, if I can have a police officer there in seconds that is better
  • If we asked the police officers to take 5 of their days off and donate it towards schools, We could add to their tax credit it could work

 

Tom Munoz, Texas City ISD

  • Use Sigma Group for threat assessment
    • We were the first school district to use them
  • The operational coordination that takes place with relationships is key
  • Utilizing a format similar fusion centers
  • We are trying to follow the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan
  • The creation of a task force is necessary in our community
  • Addresses the importance of collaboration amongst district employees in order to keep the community safe- it’s a group effort
  • Bernal – You talked about spending money on mental health, is that for mental health professionals? I’m trying to understand the 60/40 balance you mentioned.
    • Every session we are given a bigger to do list. I.E. councilors fill multiple rolls. We need them to focus on counseling children and not per say administering standardized tests
  • Counselors should now focus also on mental health as opposed to strictly traditional counselling duties such as teenage pregnancies, STDS, etc. The only factor that’s missing right now is funding

 

Panel 7:

 

John Jones, Texas DPS

  • Shares with the committee the success of the programs the Department of Public Safety has had recently with apps like iWatch or the DPS
    • 24/7 watch center that monitors these reports
    • 1 in 5 reports receive a match, meaning that it is not the first report received for that specific individual
    • We run a Fusional Service Center where
    • We make sure the information is connected between the different centers
  • Huberty- Who would report suspicious behavior?
    • Anybody can report
    • If gun clerks notice suspicious behavior and are receiving strange questions from a buyer, they can report that
  • King- What do you have west of 1-35?
    • The state covers it out of Austin
  • Koop- Can the program be individualized, and can it be fused together with bullying comments from the kids and those kinds of things?
    • 6400 people have downloaded the app since the release
    • We categorize the different reports
  • Koop- Is there a real time setting where you can see all comments? ISDs are wanting information on bullying and other things as well.
    • The system can be modified to do that
  • Huberty- How does the app get more integrated, so we do not have a repeat performance like parkland?
    • The problem with parkland was that it went to FBI and the FBI does not deal with bullying
    • When law enforcement receives the report there is a confirmation you got it, have the information you need, and you run the information
  • Koop- I am hearing a disconnect between what you are telling me and what the ISDs want.
    • We will be the only state in the nation has a connected reporting system across the state
  • Koop- Do you think we needs adjustments in the open records law?
    • Yes, the AG has made a determination that they are not opening records
  • Huberty- you cannot investigate unless you know of something, you can’t act unless you get the information
  • Moore- Do you have stats on the app?
    • The whole network last year had 2,056 SARS Submitted
  • 2017 had 2100 reports 564 were pre-op surveillance
    • See people buying explosives, high-risk to children, alien smuggling, fraud offences, etc.

 

Dr. Pete Blair, Texas State University

  • Gives background on ALERRT
    • Partnership between San Marcos Police Department, Hayes County, and TSU
    • Got money from criminal justice division of Governor’s office
    • Trained over 130,000 police and first responders in the country
    • We have a research component to make sure we are ahead of the cutting edge
  • We are actively involved in research and reviewing out information
  • Provide integrated training with EMS and police
  • Saw the locks in older schools are key locks, which only lock from the outside with a key
  • Shows video on the difference of internal and external locks
  • Huberty- How do we fix the locks?
    • The cheap solution is to modify the door locks
  • Shows another video on lockdown as a response to active shooters
  • Huberty- What does your group and other groups need?
    • In order to be able to train in other areas of the state, we need more funding
    • People are talking about charging the police officers for the alert training
  • Huberty- What is the cost?
    • We didn’t get a new funding stream at the end of the last session
    • Starting in April we got $1.25 million
  • Huberty- So you are going to charge the officers to get trained?
    • Yes, if this type of funding continues
  • Huberty- how do you think that will work
    • You will start getting calls from your local officers

 

Panel 8:

 

Jeff Potter, Texas Society of Architects

  • We think that Ch. 61 of TEA book is a good place for our recommendations to be integrated
  • We are looking at hardening the exterior of schools and making it more difficult enter the front door
    • It is difficult to keep the other doors locked and secured
  • There is a sense that hardening the inside is what we need to do, but we actually need to soften the inside
  • Huberty- Can you explain that please?
    • Putting practices in place to address emotional, mental health, etc.
  • Huberty- Do you have an idea of how much it will cost to upgrade old schools to the safety level of new schools?
    • I heard $500,000 per school
  • Huberty- We would like to know the costs
    • We could look at the scope of work
  • Huberty- And you are not fixing it before August 26?
    • Right

 

Roy Sprague, Cypress ISD

  • Gives background on Cy-Fair
    • 3rd largest school district
    • Serve over 1 million students
    • 91 campuses and support facilities
  • Tells the committee what safety measures Cy-Fair ISD is implementing
    • Found money in the bond projects to build card reader devices, etc
    • Installing $55.3 million worth of enhancements in schools
    • Putting in digital intrusion panels, building access card readers, lockdown/panel buttons, security vestibules, emergency call buttons, and added new digital cameras
    • Card readers cost $3,500-5,000 per installment
    • Have to customize the security installments for each campus
    • School hardening still needs well-trained employees
    • All enhancements are used to slow the attacker down
    • The response time from the camera to the police is 2 to 3 seconds
    • Constructed 4 radio towers
  • Huberty- You have your own police force?
    • Yes, with a $12.6 million annual budget
  • Huberty- Is there a resource officer at every campus?
    • 2 officers at every high school, 1 at middle schools, and patrolling police officers at elementary schools
  • All enhancements will hopefully be done by the end of the calendar year; moved up the dates for completion
  • We also want the inside of the school to be transparent as well
  • We need to find technology to control the perimeters of the facility
  • Looking at what else we need to enhance, because we are concerned about the other entries
  • The $55.3 million equates to 3.07 cents a square foot
  • Huberty- That does not include resource officers?
    • No
  • Huberty- What is your budget for resource officers?
    • $12.6 million
  • Hubert- And that will continue to go up?
    • Yes
  • On a per student basis, it equates to $473 per student out of 117,000 students
  • We recommend you look at funding by a per student or per square foot basis
  • Bohac- What do we do about protecting people who are at athletic events?
    • Not sure; we are looking at the policies of letting people into the stadium
    • Announced we are going to require clear backpacks and no purses

 

Chief Alan Bragg, Cy-Fair ISD

  • Tells the panel about his experience with law enforcement, and working for school districts
  • Huberty- When did you start the police force in Cy-Fair?
    • Started in 2012
  • Huberty- prior you had constables?
    • Yes
  • Worked with architects to design the schools
  • Discusses his experience at a roundtable with 25 local police chiefs
    • Texas School Safety and Security Council
    • Agreed to meet with the group quarterly; 4th session will be a training session
    • Number 1 concern was having officers present at each campus
    • Out of 1,000 school districts in Texas, 200 have their police force
  • Concerns addressed at the meeting:
    • Having officers present
    • Video Cameras
    • Secure access for front doors
    • Secure vestibules
    • Harden front areas with bullet proof glass
    • Access control
    • Lockdown controls that lock down the entire campus
    • Saferooms
    • Good radio system
    • Call stations
  • The ratio of officers to students should be at least 1 to 700
  • Huberty- It would be helpful to break down the costs per student.
  • Huberty- Have you reviewed the Governor’s School Safety plan?
    • Yes
  • Huberty- Any thoughts?
    • I think the metal detectors will be hard to implement
  • Huberty- The security to handle the metal detectors would be costly.
    • Would have to have a police officer stationed at each metal detector
    • We are looking at using the metal detectors at random
  • Bernal- Expresses his view on how metal detectors create a backlog of students that double their exposure.
  • King- Expresses the difficulty of making buildings ADA compliant.

 

Panel 9:

 

David Henderson, Kologik

  • Panic buttons that resides on the teacher’s phone/computer notifies the 5 nearest law enforcement officers within 15 seconds
    • Also provides a map of the school
  • Emphasizes a faster response time that can stop more casualties
  • Cost of technology is lower and around $2,300 a campus for the application
  • What is it called?
    • Copsync911; it bypasses traditional 911 operators and pushes information out directly to the officers
    • It cuts down call time
  • Huberty- The police officer has to have the app?
    • Yes, it is placed in the law enforcement’s computers and in the school districts
  • Huberty- 100 campuses or school districts?
    • Campuses
  • There is a device called BluePoint that is similar to call stations; the problem is that the police officers won’t know the reason why they are being called
  • Huberty- So someone hits the button, it goes out, what does it say?
    • First, it looks for the 5 police cars nearest to the incident, grabs the police cars, shoots the message to them, and then there is a copsync911 alert at the school; whoever hit the device has the ability to communicate with the officer and vice versa
  • Bohac- The product is called Kologik?
    • Kologik recently acquired the technology
    • Kologik is the company and the technology is patented
  • Bernal- Should we give districts the ability to respond using technology?
    • Yes, it would reduce the response time
  • Huberty- Cost wise you said $2,300?
    • Yes
  • Huberty- What happens after that?
    • You renew a contract
  • It would be another $2,300 for the next couple of years. It is an ongoing cost?
    • Yes

 

Bill Nusbaum, LaForce Inc

  • Gives background on the company and his experience
  • Emphasizes the thought that schools should not feel like a prison and that exterior doors are an issue
  • We want to do everything you can on the exterior, but if someone wants to get into a building they are going to find a way
  • Recommend creating lockable spaces or saferooms
    • Need to make sure the classroom door is easily lockable from the inside
  • There have been quick solution products called barricade devices that provide a variety of problems
    • Emergency personnel cannot get into the room
    • Can be used by anyone for example a bully or if the shoo themselves into the room, not handicap compliant, not emergency compliant, etc.
  • A commercial grade lock is the best way to secure a classroom
  • Huberty- How much do 87 doors cost?
    • Cylindrical lock costs $350
    • Mortis lock costs $500
  • Huberty- Your role is to provide consulting services and to sell the product?
    • Main business is a distributer, but also work with architects
  • Huberty- Are you working with Texas Architectural Association?
    • Not currently; we will bid on those projects eventually
    • Architects find hardware consultants and work with them through the school districts on design
  • Huberty- Do lots of people do this… the Distribution side?
    • Yes, each market has different hardware distributers
    • There are few consultant firms in every city
  • Commercial grade locks have never been shown to fail and Sandy Hook reports shows the shooter ignored the classrooms with locked doors
  • Huberty- I encourage you to work with the architects to determine a cost

 

Public Testimony

 

Travis Scott, Everbridge

  • Many of the solutions brought to us today are going to take years to implement
  • Everbridge is the global leader of emergency notification services and have solutions we can offer
  • We can provide a panic button on a mobile device or computer
  • Everbridge can make this available to every school in Texas right now and have it finished before school starts
  • Have implemented resident services like this for residents in Florida, New York, and Connecticut; Also, provide resident services for Houston, Harris County, and many others in Texas
  • The app will alert parents, students, teachers, and local law enforcement
  • Can drop a pin where the panic button was triggered and can also check in with other faculty and staff on campus every 30 seconds
  • Everbridge can reduce the amount of time between communications
  • There needs to be a single platform for a uniform communication platform
  • It will cost $2.5 million annually for the entire state
  • Huberty- You are dealing with City of Houston and Harris County, what are you doing with them?
    • We provide public notification of things
    • They needed a better way to communicate the effects of Harvey
  • Huberty- When were these contracted?
    • Houston contract was completed in November
    • Harris Country complete a month ago and in the process of implementation
  • Huberty- How did they implement it?
    • A team comes onsite
  • Huberty- How do they communicate with me?
    • A system called IPAS, created after Katrina, and can tap into the amber alert system to send out the alert
  • Huberty- So as the user I don’t have to do anything?
    • No, but you can fill out a profile to add multiple devices, locations, etc.
  • Van Deaver- So out of the $2 million, that is something less than $300 per campus?
    • 65 cents for student
  • Bernal- Is there any metric we can use to test response times?
    • Do not have exact metrics on hand, but can send them
  • Bernal- This solution makes a tremendous amount of sense.
    • We provide many analytics with the application
    • At the end of the incident, you can look at every piece of information to analyze the situation; I can follow up with previous use of the system
    • Also provide services to Uber and Facebook
  • Bohac- You guys are helping uber as a client?
    • Yes, for IT alerting and communication
  • Bohac- What other private sector companies do you work with?
    • Facebook, Uber, Microsoft, Lowe’s, Walt Disney World, and many more

 

Joe Vazquez, Garrett Metal Detectors

  • Gives background of the company and his experience
  • Regardless of how you contrast the building, there is no way to determine whether these children have guns in their possession; the metal detector is a deterrent
  • People’s behavior changes when a metal detector is present and can be captured on camera
  • Without being able to detect weapons coming into the school, there are serious problems
  • Huberty- You are saying you do not need cameras or resource officers, but who is going to monitor the metal detectors?
    • Metal detectors are a crucial aspect of the solution
    • We can create a nontraditional way of manning the metal detector
  • Huberty- Like what?
    • Can combine metal detectors with other technology, minimize the number of people who need to man the check points, etc.
    • The backpacks are blocking up the lines and we might need to make some cultural changes
  • Huberty- How do you respond to people that say metal detectors are a choke point?
    • Choke points can be alleviated by scheduling
    • Some schools are considering changing bus schedules; we are working with Las Vegas schools on how they are going to bring buses into the prevent a bottleneck at the entrance of the school
  • Thompson- Emphasizes that the solution will need a system of solutions, not just one.
  • Allen- What do you provide for Aldine and Houston? How does it work?
    • We deployed metal detectors 2 years ago
    • We do a full assessment of the school and find ways to secure it
    • Also, work with the rockets, etc.
  • Allen- How do we man those metal detectors?
    • The biggest challenge is monitoring to bookbags and the other is policy changes like dress codes
  • Huberty- How are you implementing them in Aldine?
    • Using them as random screening; elementary schools use them for visitors
  • Huberty- I would like to see where it is working.
    • Schools today are not implementing metal detectors where they should
  • Huberty- What are they doing in Houston?
    • Not sure, sometimes we sell through distribution
  • Huberty- I would like to understand how this works.
  • Allen- I want to know how you man them. Some high schools have over 30 entrances.

 

Monte Hunter, Parkhill, Smith & Cooper

  • Provides a recommendation to allow more readily available funds for facility upgrades
  • Move pennies from INS TO MNO districts; biggest saving is that districts do not pay interest on that
    • The point is to move the money over to the MNO and make it interest free which will give them money to spend on security
    • It takes 6-7 years to fund a project after the audit
  • Huberty- So, you are suggesting we move from INS funding to MNO funding? It would take you a period of time to pay?
    • Yes, pay as you go
    • The upside is there are readily available funds for security needs
  • Huberty- We do not have a clue what it costs and any information you can provide would help. How did you come up with the $39 billion cost for revamping schools in Texas?
    • Did extensive study and have been tracking it for 10 years
    • We used a report by the Association of Physical Plan Administrators that determines renewal costs based on the age of a facility and tested it with many districts, so it is accurate

 

Lauren Rose, Texans Care For Children

  • Should limit role of police officers to school security and prohibiting them from addressing minor misbehavior in the classroom
    • We see teachers call in police to deal with behavior
  • Recommends the committee to increase police training and asks to put in tracking data mechanisms to track police involvement in schools; need to be able to hold police accountable

 

Kim Denning-Knapp, Teacher

  • Emphasizes the need for more mental health counselors
  • Need trauma informed instruction and crisis counselors
  • Allen- Are you finding kids academically stressed?
    • Yes, financially, academically, etc.
  • Bernal- What happened to campuses once the counselors were taken away?
    • All of the above

 

Jolene Sanders, Easter Seals

  • Reiterates that students with mental illness are overidentified in schools

 

Josette Saxton, Texans Care for Children

  • Look at upstream solutions that prevents violence and other problems our kids are facing
  • Shows graphic in testimony to the committee
    • Threat Assessments are not enough needs to include strategies
  • Threat Risk Assessment protocols are good when implemented properly and connects kids to mental health services

 

Adrian Gaspar, Disability Rights Texas

  • Discusses the Texas Tech twitter plan, the Gold Standard, etc.
  • Provides the committee with a document explaining reasons not to use the twitter program
  • Allen- Do you think twitter works as an assessment tool?
    • No we do not because it is not a school-based team
  • Allen- What about students with disabilities?
    • Falls short of serving students with disabilities

 

Sheila Hemphill, Texas Right to Know

  • The common thread between the school shooters were the drugs they were taking; they were under the care of physicians who were prescribing the drugs
    • 1 and 6 children on drugs like Adderall cause depression, paranoia, etc.
    • 2 million students are on psychiatric drugs
  • Emphasizes that false diagnoses, psychiatric drugs, etc. cause the school shootings
  • Asking for a study to show the benefits of functional medicine to treat mental illnesses

 

Steve Swanson

  • Encourages the committee to participate in Lonestar Governance Training

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