Audit finds two propped doors at Red Oak High; district plans retraining and a door‑alarm pilot
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Summary
A TEA intruder-detection audit found two external doors left open at Red Oak High School; district staff scheduled mandatory retraining, daily work-order tracking for repeat issues and proposed a pilot to install door alarms at 27 vulnerable doors.
District safety staff told the board that a TEA intruder-detection audit at Red Oak High School on Oct. 28 identified two exterior doors that were propped open and therefore failed those audit checks. The findings were presented during the superintendent's report by Philip Prasifka, Red Oak ISD Police Department chief of police.
"They did note that there was, at least one place where there was something outside the door that they believe could be used to prop open... The actual findings were those two doors," Prasifka said, adding that in one case a mechanical issue contributed and in the other the district believes a student propped the door. Prasifka said the district did not have video evidence from that day because IT was switching servers, so the camera feed was unavailable.
Corrective steps already under way include required live retraining for staff (one session completed and a makeup scheduled for the coming Friday), daily work orders to document recurring door problems, and a corrective plan that the district intends to upload to the Texas Education Agency via Sentinel. "In the retrain in the training... we geared toward the findings," Prasifka said.
Board and staff then discussed technical options and constraints: some exterior doors are fire exits that cannot be locked, camera sightlines that do not capture interior door openings, possible fencing to create enclosed secure areas, audible alarms, and targeted installation of door alarms on high-risk doors. A district committee proposed piloting alarms at the high school and an additional campus; staff identified approximately 27 doors at the high school that could benefit from alarms and named a local installer in Waxahachie as a potential vendor for an initial pilot.
District leaders emphasized accountability for individuals who prop doors and said they would document repairs and corrective actions in work-order records to demonstrate remediation to TEA. The safety committee will revisit the matter in the spring and the district plans to finish training and submit corrective documentation to TEA ahead of the posted deadline.
No formal board action occurred; staff described planned technical and training remedies and a follow-up reporting timeline.