Top priority: TEA enhances school safety with new security monitoring program

SAN ANTONIO – How is the state holding schools accountable for student safety? The question is top of mind for parents and students as school starts again.

This year, the Texas Education Agency is unveiling a new school safety program called Sentinel to monitor and store security data from school districts.

“It’s basically a one-stop-shop for everything school safety,” said John Scott, chief of school safety and security for TEA. “This is how our schools will report their compliance information to TEA.”

How does it work?

Texas Education Code requires school districts and certain open-enrollment charter schools to submit certain assessments and safety checks each year. TEA said this is to help monitor statewide requirements for schools are being completed. Sentinel is now the system schools will use to submit and store their data.

“It’s an innovative tool that is also very simple to use,” Scott said. “It does intrusion detection audits, district vulnerability assessments, emergency management, technical assistance and training in behavior threat assessments.”

Scott said this program is free to all schools.

“It’ll be a gradual thing, but all schools will be immediately involved,” Scott said.

Andrew Olivarez is the assistant director of security and safety for the North East Independent School District. He said Sentinel will be an additional tool for the district to support a secure school environment.

“It’s a means of us gathering that data, putting in one place for the state to be able to come back and look at that and make sure we’re in compliance,” Olivarez said. “It gives us the checks and balances that we didn’t have before.”

Olivarez said the district has been using digital spreadsheets to track all of these requirements so far. Past KSAT 12 reporting shows NEISD struggled to complete the required drills two years ago. Olivarez said he was hopeful this would streamline the tracking process.

Other districts in the area

KSAT reached out to 18 school districts in the greater San Antonio area. Most districts said they’re still in the early stages of understanding how to use the program.

“We’re honestly still just learning about it,” said Dr. Burnie Roper, superintendent of schools with Lackland ISD. “Safety is our number one priority.”

These are the schools we’ve heard back from and their status as of Thursday night:

• 
  Alamo Heights ISD: Sentinel account set up and still learning the system

• 
  East Central ISD: System not yet set up to learn more information from the state

• 
  Floresville ISD: Will participate, but still in planning stages

• 
  Fort Sam Houston ISD: System not yet set up to learn more information from the state

• 
  Lackland ISD: Sentinel account set up and learning the system

• 
  Medina Valley ISD: Will participate, but still in the planning stages

• 
  Northside ISD: Will participate, but still in the planning stages

• 
  North East ISD: Sentinel account set up and learning the system

This system is not public, meaning students and families can’t check to see what assessments have been completed by what schools are using Sentinel. However, TEA said it should create a safer environment that will be felt communitywide.

“It’s going to allow them to focus more on the actual school safety of implementing good policies,” Scott said. “Ensuring that they’re in compliance with all state regulations in a more simple fashion means they can devote more time to the physical act of keeping their school safe.”

To read more about why Sentinel was created, click here.