Chandler Unified outlines layered school safety plan, cites threat assessments and tech upgrades

Chandler Unified School District presented a multi‑layered plan for school safety and student support on Oct. 8, outlining campus assessments, technology upgrades, strengthened police coordination and expanded counseling and prevention work.

Dr. Dela Torre, the district presenter, told the Governing Board the district treats safety as a top priority and has combined physical security measures with student wellness programs. He said the district requires a formal threat‑vulnerability assessment (TVA) at each site every five years and is about halfway through the current cycle; TVA findings help shape audits and improvement plans.

Why it matters: Officials said parents and staff need clear, fast reporting and response systems during emergencies and daily concerns. The district tied technology investments to faster response, better reunification after evacuations and more reliable visitor tracking, and stressed that internal student supports are equally central to preventing incidents.

Key elements presented

- Threat and campus assessments: Every district campus is required to receive a TVA every five years. TVA reports guide upgrades and appear in audits the state reviews. The current assessment cycle is under way and expected to finish before year end.

- Camera and monitoring upgrades: The district is migrating legacy camera software (previously Ocularis) to a platform the presenter identified as Access to improve clarity and provide better search, retention and potential AI‑assisted anomaly detection. High schools maintain staffed camera hubs, and the district said limited, logged emergency access for first‑responders will be granted when needed.

- Rapid alert and visitor management (Raptor): The district described a Raptor rapid‑response system that can triangulate an alert location to within about 10 feet, supports badge and app alerts, and includes reunification and check‑in functions. The visitor‑management component prints badges, logs visitor checks and cross‑references federal registries for alerts.

- Tip lines and online filtering: The district uses a tipline program (previously Lightspeed; the reporting component is now Stop It) and a web filtering system. Dela Torre said district records show thousands of filter events across the recent reporting period; some trigger imminent alerts that require immediate contact with a site principal.

- Threat assessment process and numbers: Dela Torre described the CSTAG team process (site administrators, counselors, social workers, SROs, psychologists as needed). He said the district completed 128 threat assessments last year, six of which were judged substantive and required immediate action; during the first quarter this school year there were 37 threat assessments with two judged substantive.

- Student supports and prevention: The district emphasized tiered supports (universal classroom lessons, targeted interventions, and intensive Tier‑3 supports). Officials highlighted K–9 bullying prevention lessons, social‑emotional curricula (Second Step in K–8), counselors, social workers and funded SROs, and a new site‑based prevention liaison role using Arizona Youth Survey data to shape quarterly interventions.

What the data shows

Dela Torre summarized tools and numbers the district uses to monitor risk: the TVA program, tipline reports, threat assessments and an online activity monitoring system. He said the Lightspeed/Stop It program produced about 21 tip reports in the 2024–25 school year and nine reports so far in 2025–26 (six at high schools, three at junior highs). He also said the district’s online filter system logged roughly 7,000 monitored events in a recent multi‑month period; some are false alarms (quoted text, drafts) while others required immediate contact.

On discipline trends, staff presented a quarterly event total (2,885 in the first quarter) that district leaders said, if annualized, would remain below the prior year’s total events. They reported that about 30 of the filtered/monitored online events were classified as “imminent” and triggered direct phone calls to site leadership.

Board questions and context

Board members pressed for normalized metrics and deeper disaggregation. Mr. Heap asked for data normalized to enrollment to track rates rather than raw counts; Dr. Dela Torre agreed normalization would be useful. Mr. Morris and Ms. Mendoza asked about the district’s definition of “minor aggressive act,” which administrators described as behavior below the threshold of assault but above disorderly conduct — a spectrum that can include reckless rough play, pushing or other acts that, if unaddressed, can escalate into bullying.

Several board members asked for more school‑level context and for longitudinal comparisons of the student climate surveys. Ms. Modson and others urged deeper site‑level engagement (student advisory groups, site councils) to understand the subjective safety experiences students report; Dela Torre said he would pursue more school‑specific focus groups and site data reviews.

Funding and technology notes

Dela Torre said the district has applied for federal COPS grant funds to support camera and other equipment upgrades and is evaluating costs and logistics for Raptor visitor‑management and rapid‑alert tools. He said a portion of counseling, social work and SRO staffing is supported through a mix of state grants and district funding.

Ending

The presenter concluded that safety is a layered effort — people, processes and equipment — and that the district will continue to refine training, reporting and technology while expanding student supports and prevention. He invited the board to follow up with requests for additional site‑level reports and normalization of the discipline data.

Speakers quoted or referenced in this article include only those who appear in the meeting transcript.