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In CISD, Safety is More Than a Word
—it is a mindsetIn CISD, safety is more than a word
School safety has long maintained an around-the-clock presence for Crandall ISD. It impacts everyone and everything on a campus. Safe schools allow children to explore, learn and grow. Teachers can interact freely and comfortably. Visitors can enjoy their time with students and staff. And parents can trust their young learners are in good hands throughout the day. In three years, CISD has become one of the safest school districts in North Texas. CISD’s Police Department—established in 2019 with three officers and one chief—is now a force of eight officers, with a ninth set to be added this school year. Staffing for the 10-person department will rank at the top of Kaufman County school districts operating their own police force, and allow for an even officer-to-campus ratio on all of CISD’s nine campuses.
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“Our schools rely on our police department for protection and you would be hard-pressed to find a stronger police presence throughout a school district than what we have here in CISD,” said CISD Police Chief Bill Taylor. “We have more than doubled our department’s size in just three years. If you go to a campus in our district, we want you to see our police officers.”
And that is a presence CISD intends to maintain. CISD Emergency Operations has also fortified its presence over the past 16 months. Established in July 2021, the department provides a framework that reduces vulnerability to hazards and helps cope with crisis events that may occur. It operates within the same five-step emergency management model used by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency): Prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery.
“When basic safety needs are not met, our students become at-risk,” said Keith Chapman, CISD’s director of emergency management. “They become at-risk of not feeling comfortable at school. At-risk for attendance. At-risk to be on edge throughout the day. And our emergency operations approach is designed so students—as well as staff and visitors— know, see and feel the safety protocols in place throughout our CISD campuses.” Those safety measures were on full display throughout the 2021-22 school year when Chapman guided campuses through more than 160 drills, using Standard Response Protocols (SRP) from the I Luv U Guys Foundation. Exercises at each school included:
• Lockdown (2) • Shelter (2) • Hold (2) • Secure (2) • Monthly fire drill throughout school year Our campuses are keeping students, staff and visitors safe. ”
Staff members also attended a reunification and relocation class.
Through all the activities, benefits of the SRPs quickly became apparent—everyone was on the same page. By standardizing the vocabulary, all stakeholders across all campuses understood the response and how to react in a crisis.
Those standardizations have proven beneficial this school year as the Texas Education Agency (TEA) mandated intruder detection audits take place at each of the 1,200-plus school districts and charters across the state.
• Auditors could not gain entrance to the building • Auditors walked halls with administrator and found no exterior door unsecured • Auditors walked halls with administrator and found no interior door unsecured • Campus administrator had all weekly door audits as required
Our campuses are keeping students, staff and visitors safe.
