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State education department outlines school‑safety platform, drills and SRO challenges
Summary
Department staff and a private vendor summarized a statewide school safety platform and recent activity: thousands of drills and training events, a secure 360‑degree photos database and recommendations to increase faculty training and district awareness. The board also discussed school resource officer coverage and funding limits.
Department staff and a contracted vendor briefed the State Board of Education on a state‑level school‑safety platform, training and next steps following recent national incidents that renewed attention on intrusion and active‑shooter response.
What the briefing covered
- Participation and drills: Department and vendor figures show participation by 143 local systems and more than 1,300 schools in a statewide safety platform. The vendor reported 7,717 training events and 14,717 drills during the last reporting year, including active‑shooter drills. Department staff said the system was built with federal grant support and expanded after the Parkland shootings.
- 360‑degree photos: The department has paid for a program to capture 360‑degree photospheres of school facilities to support emergency planning; most schools have not yet completed the photo collection and staff urged districts to work with regional coordinators to complete the process.
- Training and technical resources: The vendor recommended a public awareness campaign about available tools, an online, self‑paced technical training program for schools and a state‑supported faculty training cohort to improve preparedness and consistent practice.
- School resource officers (SROs): Board members discussed SRO coverage; the department reported roughly 400–500 certified SROs statewide while many more districts use sworn officers or deputies who are not SRO‑certified. The board and staff discussed district options to contract SRO coverage from municipal or county law enforcement and the availability of state and local funds to support training and staffing. Department staff cautioned that employing sworn officers directly would raise insurance and certification issues for districts and recommended contracting through sheriff’s or police departments.
Why it matters: Board members said they want a practical path to increase both concrete security measures (locks, cameras, door control and perimeter assessments) and mental‑health resources; department staff urged balanced attention to both safety hardware and broader mental‑health and community services.
Next steps
Department staff and the vendor will: distribute an updated survey to districts to refresh their capabilities inventory; roll out an awareness campaign on available supports; offer an online training path for school safety coordinators; and increase outreach to districts to complete facility photospheres. The department also said it would clarify allowable uses of federal ESSER and state technology funds for security measures and report back on funding options.
Ending
Board members requested department follow‑up on funding rules for security projects, details about SRO training and deployment, and a schedule for the vendor’s training modules. No policy change was proposed during the session.
