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The Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Security heard invited and public testimony related to school hardening and security.

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.

Opening Remarks

  • Committee adopted rules

Improve the infrastructure and design of Texas schools to reduce security threats, and discuss various proposals to harden school facilities, including limiting access points, improving screening and detecting of weapons, retrofitting school facilities with improved locks, emergency alarm systems, and monitoring cameras.

Mike Morath, Texas Education Agency

  • Gave presentation
  • Schools are required to review school safety every three years
    • TEA does not have oversight regarding that
  • Texas State school safety center acts as a resource center for schools
    • No verification or accreditation of companies in the center’s database
    • TEA working with the center to create designation for safety similar to LEAD design
  • Reviewed statewide security audit in March revealed that all schools were compliant with applicable statutes
  • Santa Fe was considered a high watermark of school safety
  • Per governor’s charge – Sent out information to districts related to school safety
    • Highlighted the school Marshal program
    • Secret Service – post columbine report information related to threat assessment practices for staff
    • Mental health first aid training which is free and available for staff
    • Law enforcement coordination
    • Provided multiple resources related to additional training
  • Received additional funding from Department of Education
  • Expecting to respond to governor’s call with proposed legislation as TEA does not have authority
  • Working toward creating behavioral best practices
  • Expecting $75 million nation wide in Department of Justice grant
  • Whitmire – requested additional information related to mental health first aid
    • Training has been available for many years
    • A broad-based training, wanting to make this as available to an many people who want the additional training
  • Schwertner – it is provided through local mental health authorities and is an 8-hour training available to teachers
  • Schwertner – discussed details of the training. 25,000 educators have gone through the training, and intended to help teachers identify those students which need further evaluation or counseling
  • Whitmire – would like to be sure that there is appropriate confidentiality involved with the students who are identified through this kind of program
    • Morath – FIRPA and HIPA both may be involved or requirements
  • West – it seems that the biggest issue is a mental health issue, so the question is do we have an adequate system in place and if not, what should we do? And how would that be funded?
    • Schwertner – does not believe that the current mental health system is adequate, and need to ensure that as many people as possible are involved in identifying those children who are at risk for mental health breaks or violent outbreaks
  • West – are other states doing anything specific that we are not?
    • Morath – Virginia legislature enacted a requirement for threat assessment for all higher education institutions that came with a slight increase in funding associated
    • Schwertner – there is a number of things that can be done in a hierarchy
  • Taylor – noted that the specifics of mental health are in the 3rd charge
  • Huffman – noted that the secret service post columbine report is available to the public related to school shooters
    • TEA has set up school safety resources page on the TEA website
    • A number of schools have already embraced the threat assessment practices
    • One TEA objective is to create a self-evaluation tool
    • A similar threat assessment tool was created and mandated by the legislature for cyber security
  • Creighton – began by stating that the TEA does not have statutory authority for school safety?
    • That information is reported to the school safety center not TEA
    • There are a number of requirements that TEA does not have enforcement over
  • Creighton – should TEA have more oversight authority?
    • Not prepared to answer that at this point
    • There could be a similar informational body like DIR for cybersecurity
  • Creighton – you mentioned actions that TEA has taken recently, but mostly involving reminding and encouraging, is that TEA’s role?
    • At this point, that is TEAs role, to spread best practices
  • Creighton – requested any beliefs or opinions that the commissioner may have related to the necessary actions to be taken and where authorities should lay
  • Lucio – how did Texas react to the Columbine incident? Did we put out a questionnaire and what were the results if so? TEA is looked at as the central location for all school issues, believes that TEA should take a leadership role on a universal plan for safety.
    • Do not have an answer regarding post-columbine communications, but will conduct research on that topic

Christopher Huckabee, Educational Facility Architect

  • Building safety is a broad topic
  • Generally, use building codes in safety design
    • Describes fire ratings, number of exit doors, etc
    • Codes change frequently in response to tragedies
  • There are two issues: internal and external threats
  • Internal threats have been more common, and those people are using the operational procedures against the facility in an attack
  • Found that one of the most effective tactics is to allow occupants to choose fight or flight to help disrupt response
  • Whitmire – how does that effect school design?
    • To discuss that must consider new building versus existing buildings
    • New buildings are designed to be more transparent with less specific areas that students or teachers must be all the time (group work spaces as opposed to specific classrooms)
  • Whitmire – is that for prevention?
    • Finding that the best prevention is to not have the situation in the space
    • Limits bullying, etc.
  • Many practices were put in place after Columbine, but fire code still prescribes the kind of entrances and exits, meaning that they will never be perfect scenarios for security
  • Newer practices include giving law enforcement access to the cameras, being able to lockdown different areas of the school to help enclose a shooter
  • Itinerant spaces give opportunity or space to bring in mental health experts
  • Taylor – what is the last time we had a mass casualty event in a school due to a fire?
    • Long time, maybe the 50s
  • Taylor – discussed practices and alarm procedures that include new threats in addition to fires
  • Huffman – generally speaking with school shooters they are students, etc. but how do we keep guns out of the schools, things like metal detectors should be incorporated in design.
    • They are certainly an option but there is a huge challenge related to resources for districts
    • Also mentioned it is not a perfect science and do not want the public to believe it is an end all scenario
  • West – asked for issues with fire alarms and lockdown alarms related to design?
    • Do not know if there is technology to assist with lockdowns, but training and communications are the most important part of lockdowns
  • West- how would apps help?
    • With communications related to alerting people of a situation
    • The same protocol could work well with weather instances as well as others
    • Noted that threats change frequently
  • Taylor – this is certainly an effort that will take many different types of efforts to help solve
  • Schwertner – related to external hardening and secure entrances, it only cost $400,000 for both of the high schools in Georgetown. Do we know how many schools have something like this?
    • New schools are designed over the last 10 years will incorporate something like a secure entrance
    • Do not know how many schools still need something like that
    • Many schools are beginning to implement something like that
  • Creighton – noted that this material is very technical and internal threats are mentioned in the written testimony. What do you suggest related to internal threats in new schools moving forward?
    • The most important thing is that is becomes a local decision, communities that want metal detectors should be able to get them
    • Design goal is to make schools more inviting and collaborative, because it makes student health better
  • Creighton – discussed retrofitting for dual entry/locking vestibules, is there anything else that should be considered?
    • The locking vestibule is the most important part
  • Lucio – concerned with measures that will needed to be taken to fund functional and practical schools, less concerned with inviting, etc.
  • Huffines – do you solicit law enforcement advise/ experts when designing buildings?
    • The district has safety and security committees involved in the planning process
    • Do use retires police officers on staff to aid in design
  • Huffines – what is the recommendation for those with portable buildings?
    • The best method is to keep the public as far away from the portable as possible with fencing, etc.
    • That is a very big challenge
  • Huffines – do you see a trend to go back to aa single building, or continuing to use multiple building campuses?
    • It depends on the district and how they manage that but there are some things that can be used like single campus entrance, etc.
  • Huffines – have not seen many with fencing, what kind of fencing are you speaking to?
    • Trying to create a physical barrier
  • Huffines – what I’m hearing is that it is a difficult topic to secure a campus without making it look like a prison. What would it cost to fit all campuses?
    • The shear number of older facilities that would need to be fitted is very large
  • West – in the written testimony there is a discussion of cost of metal detectors, how much will it cost to put metal detectors or wands in every school in Texas? And is it a practical solution? And how does that get paid for?
  • Taylor – discussed that the differences in each school mean that there is now good way to estimate that number
    • Mentioned that code changed in response to tragedy, and the requirement to meet code.
  • Whitmire – discussed need to implement common sense and that the real issue is the mental health aspect
  • Taylor- Texas DPS introduced iWatch Texas App to report issues from the public
  • Huffines – what do you see is the average cost of schools and is there trends to make them smaller?
    • Up to $100 million on average for high schools
    • While some schools are going to smaller campuses, but they are also committing to higher costs and maintenance over the lifetime of those buildings
  • Huffines – are you seeing a trend to go to multilevel buildings?
    • That is a trend mostly due to the cost of land
  • Creighton – does the $100 million include the cost of land?
    • It does
  • Creighton – is the multilevel your recommendation?
    • That is dependent on local needs

 

Jeff Potter, Texas Society of Architects

  • Reviewed presentation
  • Chapter 61 of administrative code includes building standards
    • Intent was not to regulate but to spread best practices
  • Considerations: will be looking at compact schools in the future due to national codes or standards, age of students determines many aspects of building
  • Biggest problem is retrofitting 1960s build schools and campuses
  • Discussed technological solutions, but the manpower needed to monitor is the expensive part
  • Believes that the mental health aspect will continue being a very important aspect to safety
    • Noted the gap between identifying and remediation for that student
    • Considered new special dimension to the remediation aspect

Joe Curial, San Antonio ISD Police Department

  • Described ISD statistics – all inner-city schools, over 99 schools
  • Have 89 personnel in ISD police with limited responsibilities
  • Increased visibility by going to community policing practices with more interactions with the community
  • Promoting a see something, say something practice
  • Mandated certain child intervention training for officers
  • Developed an intelligence unit to compile all of the notes and reports received across campuses
  • Taylor – do you have ways to research other outlets in a child’s life if a report is created, like social media?
    • Yes, have an officer that is able to do that or work with other agencies to get as much information as possible
  • Creating a student information committee to help get information out to the students
  • Taylor – do you have a set of students that you are continually monitoring?
    • We continually develop assessments based on reports
  • Taylor – if something happens with a student off campus are you made aware?
    • Yes, we do work with other agencies in many different areas
  • Taylor – do you have metal detectors?
    • No, but do have some campuses that have wands (at alternative schools)
  • Whitmire – noted that the alternative schools are less likely for an incident because of the additional scrutiny that they are under
  • Taylor – discussed ability to enforce other school rules
    • Do not enforce those, our job is just for safety
  • Huffman- I think we have to be more proactive in our approach, including pat-downs for reasonable suspicions
  • We must keep working on being diligent in our protection of the schools, while not harassing and disturbing the school environment
  • There are burdens associated with implementing metal detectors and the implementation of those, but the most important part is the human element and being able to identify students that need help
  • Lucio – did you have a career in law enforcement before becoming chief?
    • In the Air Force
  • Lucio – what is the number one issue in SAISD?
    • Disorderly conduct, from not being aware of themselves
    • Have not had issues with weapons?
  • Lucio – what happens with the students who do have disorderly conduct issues? Boot camp?
    • No, they usually stay in the school with additional check ups by the officers and staff
    • Do not have many repeat offenders
  • Lucio – is bullying a big issue?
    • No, not a major issue
  • Lucio – should teachers or administrators carry guns?
    • There are pros and cons, but will abide by legislation
    • It could pose many issues with determining the threat
  • Lucio – so your goal would be to stop weapons from coming on campus?
    • Does not believe there is a system that would completely stop the possibility of getting a weapon on campus
    • Can harden as much as possible but not stop it completely
  • Lucio – discussed checkpoints as deterrence
  • Creighton – is there an alert system that allows students to text the department in the event of an active shooter?
    • It could happen through the P3 system – an anonymous reporting system that relays the information to two officers that can react
  • Creighton – what percentage of students has access to that?
    • Its available to every campus
  • Creighton – so every kid is aware?
    • They should be
  • Creighton – what happens in the first few minutes of receiving that notice?
    • Discussed lockdown and response procedures
  • Creighton – cameras are available on all campuses?
    • That is correct
  • Creighton – do you believe that having a person with an armed “guardian” status could help save lives?
    • Cannot say with certainty that it would or would not help
    • Having armed people within the campus would require a lot of training and coordination to be helpful and not harmful in those kind of situations
    • Discussed potential problems with delineation of roles between law enforcement or administrator
  • Hancock – is a gun free zone more of a deterrent than a facility in which an administrator may have a weapon?
    • Believe that a gun free zone can be a deterrent and having an administrator with a weapon may be a deterrent, but neither will stop a person from doing what they have a mindset to do
    • Would prefer to set up a security ambassador program of people from the community to help direct students or outsiders without going into the school
  • Huffines – are you aware of the marshal program or guardian program training?
    • Are aware of some of it but would prefer additional specified campus police
  • Huffines – does San Antonio ISD participate in Marshall program or something similar?
    • No, having a Marshall or SRO are two different things
    • Huffines asked him about his familiarity with Marshall or guardian program
    • Would say give them more campus officers versus bringing in people
    • Huffines, not bringing in anyone but using staff on campuses as a supplement for PD
    • Huffines how long have you had a police force?
    • Since 1980s
  • Huffines – would be interested in trend lines, are your officers armed? Questions about training, etc
    • All armed and everyone on 24/7
    • Yes, has child crisis intervention training and training regarding active shooters
    • Huffines encourages SAISD to look as Marshall and guardian program
  • Whitmire – recalls comments that there are many more trainers than participants in the Marshall program at this time
  • Whitmire – what do you do with student that has mental health issue? Asked for specifics on what would be response to mental health patient/emotional diagnosed issues?
    • Agrees with Whitmire that they would have little mental health attention
    • Whitmire speaks to students being sent for mental health/emotional needs but them not having a place to get help
    • Witness confirms that treatment they get them is temporary during that crisis situation
    • Whitmire – aftercare is often unaffordable, provides further examples to affirm his statement concluding that we have got to fix our mental health care system
  • Huffman – Said Marshalls in district train with police in some cases, if there are those in law enforcement and reserve officers in the school, perhaps they could be tapped
  • Huffman – what percentages of districts in Texas have police forces?
    • Combined answers from members and others that it is just the large districts
  • Whitmire – noted gang activity can happen a few blocks away from campus in regard to discussion on jurisdiction
  • West – asked for opinion on arming school teachers and pros and cons
    • Will enforce the law and adjust accordingly to district policy
    • Posed questions such as if teacher would leave students to seek shooter and if they are responding how they ensure students are safe, may make it difficult to identify during active shooter situation, and when are they a police officer or a teacher and how to choose priority
  • Taylor – 47 campuses, just one SRO per campuses with understanding they have clusters and rotate them – understands he needs more, they do not have enough
  • Taylor – asked more about background of officers
    • Some have experience levels of over 16 years
    • Taylor – if you have a pension as a retired officer and then go to work for district, may have to give up pension and go on to TRS since systems are mutually exclusive

Jeff Foley, Resource Officer at Midway ISD

  • Midway ISD contracts with two different police departments
  • Limiting entry points would be amazing, not sure if it is possible with certain populations
  • Perhaps limiting personnel by door like a staff door, drop off by parents, etc
    • This allows officers to identify students as they are coming into the building and provides for a monitoring activity
  • Try to limit to 3 entrance points and 8 doors at each entry point
    • Provides details on how many metal detectors would be needed and points out teachers should have to go through mental detectors as well
  • Suggests lock down bells should be as loud as fire alarms
  • Approves of cameras, has access to all of his cameras – they may not always be manned but are always running
  • Lockdown can be conducted by landline by phones throughout campus
  • Have had accidental lock down before, provides story of students fighting back to protect classroom
  • Taylor – asked for more details about lock down and how it occurs
  • Whitmire – asked questions about relationship with students as law enforcement officers, but to be effective don’t students need to communicate needs with them and what do you do when you find a troubled youth
    • Provides examples of how he handles certain situations
    • Important to get to know kids and talk to them
  • Taylor – some schools have worked out agreements with local law enforcement officers to have them visit campuses irregularly
    • Need to have certain characteristics to work with or around children but it is a great idea
    • Invites officers to stop by on a break to become familiar with the school
  • Lucio – asked if he has established a position on teachers carrying guns
    • General consensus if that they don’t generally endorse the idea of teachers carrying but there are specific situations where it would be a good idea
  • Huffines – agrees SROs are a very valuable resource, is there an SRO at every campus
    • No
    • Notes they do not participate at the Marshall or Guardian and is vaguely familiar with training
  • Huffines – if concern is about friendly fire in the Marshall or Guardian program then perhaps officers should train with them
  • Taylor: We need to pursue a time sensitive strategy to counter an active shooter. At the very least, we must slow them down.

 Mike Matranga, Texas City ISD

  • Infrastructure security is a part of the solution, however it is not the entire solution
  • Students don’t have the ability to handle failure. We need a societal thinking change: prevention and intervention
  • Every shooter displays warning signs- we need to determine the most effective avenue in threat assignment and identification.
  • ISD police departments are being forced to answer to civilian boards, this is not logical
  • Outreach on the local level shows commitment, helps reduce stigma against police officers
  • In a school environment, I do not believe metal detectors are a logical option
    • If every exit and entrance is not secure, we have glorified scrap metal and magnets
  • It isn’t possible to completely secure a school
  • Threat assessment and physical security threat assessment should not be confused
  • Planning, training and designation of responsibility are the solutions to making our schools safer
  • If you’re going to designate a marshal or a guardian, hire an additional police officer
  • Lucio – believes that this must be addressed in a practical manner in terms of costs and additional security measures like TSA uses would be effective
  • Not completely against metal detectors, believes there are more effective measures
    • Believes that access control through architecture is a better method
    • Increasing presence of officers to address security not discipline
  • Social media monitoring is another thing to look into in order to be aware of potential threats
  • Cannot completely eliminate threats but can reduce risk
  • Need to better utilize technology like shot detection
  • Creighton – noted the societal problem, what are some solutions?
    • Described personal experiences with raising children
  • Creighton – discussed need for parents to take responsible action with their children
  • Discussion of additional officers on campus and qualifications of those who could be allowed to carry a weapon
  • Believes installing metal detectors will be more expensive that adding an officer in each school
  • Discussed fusion centers for information coordination and monitoring and need for additional resources put toward that
  • Supports legislation related to making weapons accessible to minors/children

 Public Testimony

Bob Podrosky, Senior VP of Garrett Metal Detectors

  • Average cost of a metal detector is around $3500 per unit.
  • Metal detectors have a throughput of around 500 people per hour
  • We need to have somebody posted at the door to monitor and assess possible risk
  • Huffman – you are saying that metal detectors are as much a deterrent than anything else?
    • That is correct, and there are different levels they can be set to
  • Huffines – what districts do you sell to now?
    • Some in the Dallas and Houston as well as other areas around the country
    • Noted that security is not just metal detectors, it is the whole system

 

Craig Bessent, School Marshal

  • Acts as assistant super intendant as well as a school marshal
  • School design can be difficult especially with retrofitting
    • Everything comes down to cost
  • Vigilance is the most important aspect to any measure taken
  • West – you agree that school districts have to develop the best system they can, and the state should provide best practices and the core is mental illness?
    • That is correct
  • Discussion of identification of mental health issues and confidentiality between schools
  • Lucio – do you recall when your schools began working on school hardening?
    • 2011, before sandy hook
    • Cost $200 per square foot for new and about $400 per square foot to retrofit hardening entryways

 

Tom Williams, Homeland Security – Texas City

  • Responded to Santa Fe High School
  • Working toward threat assessment
  • Key idea is the planning piece with community education planning
  • Discussed incident command structure (ICS) training and operational command within a community plan
  • Emphasized communications between agencies and offices
  • Lucio – did the shooter come in the front door?
    • He came in through the back door
  • Taylor – there is still an active investigation regarding that specific instance

 

Rodney Cavness, Texas City ISD

  • Hardening of schools must be attacked from all angles
  • Incorporation of information gathering, and monitoring must be included
  • Mental health counseling availability must be included in threat assessment, current levels of availability is lacking across the state
  • Recommends language or law that you think that a student intends to cause violence it must be reported within a certain amount of time
  • Most peace officers are not willing to let teachers carry on campus
  • Huffman – in a situation where young children bring weapons to school, is there an investigation into how the child got the weapon?
    • That is a part of the threat assessment
    • There are safety home visits
  • Hancock – discussed time as school board member in determining school design and noting a lack of safety and security when in the design phase. Mentioned possibility of mandating threat assessment/security assessment in planning process before building may begin

 

Jeff Irvine, Bridget School Safety

  • Discussed data platform that matches resources with needs and information
  • Opt-in approaches don’t work
  • Social media platform is the only way to engage with students and community
  • Huffman – written testimony includes steps labeled resolved, who would determine that law enforcement should be alerted?
    • It is part of the platform
  • Huffman – you have evidence to support this?
    • Yes
  • Huffman – this is another best practice then?
    • That is correct
  • Lucio – discussed the platform is based on social media and student’s online persona
  • Taylor – how long has the app been around?
    • 4 years since development

 

Laura Ferry, Eanes ISD

  • Often school do not know if they are doing enough or what else they can do
  • Requested research-based information and best practices
  • Requested any grants or reimbursement funds to help implement standards or best practices

 

John Bolgiano, Self

  • Thanked committee for efforts
  • Recommended taking time to get decisions correct as opposed to making a knee jerk reaction

 

Douglas Jeffery, Sineps Technology

  • Working with TSA to implement software in select airports
  • Software is AI for x-ray scanner identification
  • Believes metal detectors and x-rays are valuable components of a security plan
  • $20,000-$24,000 for an x-ray machine
  • Taylor – does your system use x-ray?
    • It does
  • Taylor – how much does your system cost on top of the x-ray?
    • $5,000 or more per machine per year

 

Monte Hunter, Parkhill Smith & Cooper

  • Security assessment should be performed by a team of specialists and professionals
  • Teams should include students and teachers
  • Texas state center for school safety should include all stakeholders in board of directors

 

Morgan Craven, Texas Appleseed

  • Practical issues with holding kids for metal detectors poses problems
  • Concerned with negative school climate as result of extensive security measures
  • Relationships between students and adults do not have to be with law enforcement in terms of being comfortable reporting
  • Taylor – what are your thoughts on anonymous reporting apps
    • Have not seen evidence-based versions
    • Should focus on building real relationships with adults
  • Huffman – what should legislators do to help students feel safe in their environment
    • Need to have an evidence based threat assessment system

 

AJ Lauderback, Sheriffs’ Association of Texas

  • Fusion center has a lot of promise from a prevention perspective
  • Taylor – is the state helping with funding those now?
    • Yes, the state is
  • West – who actually runs the fusion centers?
    • Run by sheriffs departments
    • Federally funded with local and state participation
  • West – how would you recommend expanding them?
    • Governors recommendation was an additional 2, but believes that it will take an additional 5 centers just on a geographical basis
  • Taylor – does the fusion center monitor email and social media?
    • All open source material
  • Hancock – discussed that covering geographically may not be necessary based on population spread
  • Huffman – discussed mental health component of security
  • Taylor – will be discussing that in another charge for the committee
  • Huffines – Discussed expansion of the Guardian Program and School Marshall Program
    • Not risk free but offers options for smaller or rural schools or schools that otherwise would not have school resource officers

 

Curtis Hickman, Crossfire Supply Company

  • Many options are very expensive
  • Ages of schools will require a lot of renovation to make as safe as others

 

Closing Remarks

  • Next meeting on Tuesday, June 12, 2018