KIPP Texas safety committee reviews TEA intruder-detection audits, highlights reunification training

KIPP Texas Public Schools' Safety and Security Committee on Jan. 16 in Houston reviewed recent Texas Education Agency intruder-detection audit findings, discussed districtwide reunification training drawn from a national exercise and approved the committee's Oct. 2024 meeting minutes.

The discussion matters because the committee is statutorily required to meet multiple times per year and to recommend corrective actions for school safety audits; TEA audit findings can require retraining and plan revisions across campuses. The committee also outlined a three-year cycle audit and changes to the system's emergency operations plan and cybersecurity annex.

Sean Raymond, chair of the KIPP Texas Safety and Security Committee, opened the meeting and led a voice vote to approve the Oct. 2024 meeting minutes after Craig Gorlowski moved approval and Raymond seconded. The chair stated the motion passed unanimously. The transcript records one explicit “Aye” during the roll call; the meeting record states the motion passed unanimously but does not list each committee member’s individual recorded vote in the public transcript.

Craig Gorlowski, director of safety, told the committee that Texas Education Agency staff have conducted 19 intruder-detection audits across KIPP Texas campuses and that “of those 19, they only had 3 findings,” a figure he described as an improving trend. Gorlowski said some audits extended into the first weeks of January and that the committee will discuss corrective-action plans and retraining during an executive session held under Texas Government Code Section 551.076 (deliberation regarding security devices, personnel and security audits).

Gorlowski also presented a safety “spotlight” on a reunification exercise the operations team adapted from a nationwide conference. He described the exercise as focused on evacuating students after a major incident and on orderly reunification with verified parents once a site becomes a crime scene. He said the exercise emphasized keeping students in a single controlled location until identity verification is complete.

Tembury Semmon, deputy chief of school-based operations, said the district has already run the reunification training with school operations staff and that “all of our schools have at least somebody in their school who's now been through our reunification training process.” Semmon added the district plans to run the exercise with full school leadership teams in the summer to increase readiness.

Committee staff previewed additional items for the next meeting, including the systemwide three-year cycle audit required by the Texas Education Agency, which Gorlowski said involves “over 1,500 data points and inquiries” and a field team of “well over 40 people” to complete campus reviews. Staff also said they are working on revisions to the emergency operations plan and a cybersecurity annex that were submitted to the School Safety Center; those documents have prompted “maybe a dozen or so” requested revisions and staff expect to return updated documents at the April meeting.

The meeting included an executive-session adjournment to discuss TEA security audit matters, after which the committee returned to open session and concluded. The committee did not adopt new policies during the public session; staff indicated they will bring back corrective-action plans, audit results and the revised emergency operations plan and cybersecurity annex at a future meeting.

The committee's next meeting was discussed as likely in April; staff said they would confirm and circulate the exact date after the meeting.